Of Flowers and Kunais: An Ino Yamanaka Story
by InkFingerTips6
Summary: What if Ino had defeated Sakura at the chunin exams? This is a story about her fighting her way to become a powerful kunochi
1. Chapter 1

_Get up!_ Ino's mind screamed at her.

The blond kunochi had just taken a punch to the face from Sakura and was currently laying on her back. The ground was hard beneath her, cold and unforgiving. Her back was going to hurt later. She was in the preliminary matches for the chunin exams. Her opponent was Sakura.

_Come on, Ino! Don't lose to Forehead!_ Her mind screamed again.

Ino's cereulean blue eyes fluttered open and she squinted at the bright stadium light glaring down at her.

_Move!_

She struggled forcing herself to lift up on her elbows, her eyes clenched shut with effort and she ground her teeth. Across the arena, she saw Sakura in a very similar position, the pink haired girl's face contorted in pain and exhaustion.

_This would be easier if you would lose 3 more pounds…Get up!_

Ino forced her hands beneath her arms and shoved herself into a sitting position, her slender arms shook with the effort, her entire body shook with effort. Every muscle in her body screamed in protest as she moved each limb.

_There you go! Now stand up!_

She felt like an infant, her limbs unfamiliar and heavy. Awkward and ungainly. She stumbled from side to side her toes scrapping the green tiles of the arena floor. She finally managed to stop swaying and after a brief moment, looked up.

She didn't look at anyone in particular, she just wanted to look defiant. She wanted to look like a confident and powerful kunochi, not some random girl who almost lost to forehead. Sakura had broken through her mind transfer technique! She had two souls! That had never happened before. She turned her head to see Sakura laying on the ground unconscious. Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke and nodded briefly to her before he vanished once again, Sakura in his arms.

"Winner, Yamanaka Ino." The voice of the proctor coughed.

Ino released a breath that she didn't realize that she was holding. She bowed to the proctor before stumbling towards the stairs, as she walked she looked up at the names posted on the screen above her head.

Tenten vs. Temari.

Ino paused in the middle of her ascent; disguising her fatigue to catch her breath as interest in the two girls who were currently meeting in the middle of the arena.

She recognized Tenten, the girl was a Konoha nin, after all. She was dressed in a rose pink Chinese cut shirt and a pair of ninja capris. Her chestnut colored hair was tied in two perfectly symmetrical buns on either side of her head. Across from Tenten stood Temari.

Temari was a girl who Ino had never seen before. The blond girl looked to be a couple of years older than she, with sandy blond hair yanked up into four messy pigtails. She had a huge fan in her grasp, and Ino could see the malice in her minty eyes. This girl was brutal, an involuntary shiver went through her body.

"Ino! Get upstairs!" Shikamaru's voice broke her thoughts and Ino turned quickly to continue her ascent. Her teammate caught her at the top of the stairs and helped her walk to where Chouji, Naruto, Kakashi, and Asuma all stood. Kakashi looked at her from beneath his mask.

Ino resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at the man. Yes, she had just beaten his student. Instead she allowed the emotion to expose itself through her eyes.

He got the message because he just gave her his crinkle-eyed smile and turned his attention back to the match.

Asuma's heavy hand landed on her slender shoulder and squeezed happily. "Congratuations , kid."

She smiled brightly at her teacher and returned her attention back to the match. She couldn't help the feeling of pride that was surging through her body, she had won!

_That was just because you are too pig-headed to figure out when to stop. And if you hadn't let your emotions for Sakura get in the way towards the beginning of the match or hesitated when you took over Sakura's mind, you would have won the match._ She thought to herself.

She knew that she had won that match, and that was all that mattered. But she also knew that she had let her emotions for Sakura get in the way.

A hand yanked on her now stubby and poorly cut ponytail. She instantly regretted having cut it all off. She turned to see Chouji standing behind her.

"You better have not gotten crumbs in my hair." She stated instantly.

Chouji smirked. "I didn't but good job!" he stated happily.

She smiled back at her teammate. "Thanks! Now, you had better win too!"

Once the preliminaries were over, Ino stood next to Shikamaru in a line with the other ninja who would be competing in the final matches for the Chunin Exams.

She looked at the chart before her, a series of brackets with the names randomly chosen was listed before her.

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabuku no Gaara

Hyuuga Neji vs. Uzumaki Naruto

Aburame Shino vs. Sabuku no Kankuro

Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabuku no Temari

Kinuta Dosu vs. Yamanaka Ino

Ino couldn't help the shudder that ran through her body, Dosu was the same guy who had beaten Chouji only moments ago without breaking a sweat.

"You all have one month to prepare for the exams. You will receive more information later on." Ibiki stated before dismissing the students.

Shikamaru was on Ino in an instant. "Forfit." He stated simply.

"What?" Ino demanded.

"You heard me."

"No." Ino replied.

"Ino, this man could kill you!" Shikamaru exclaimed.

"And Temari is all roses and butterflies." Ino scoffed.

"But Ino, I actually stand a chance against her."

Ino stopped walking and glared at Shikamaru. "What?"

"You're not strong e-"

_SLAP_.

The sound echoed in the stadium, and bystanders paused to watch the interaction. Shikamaru slowly raised his hand to his cheek, his brown eyes wide with shock.

"Stay away from me." Ino growled in Shikamaru's ear before walking away.

The next day, team 10 met at the training grounds. Ino hid her horribly cut hair beneath a hair cover, her vanity showing at its finest.

She stood next to Choji avoiding eye contact with Shikamaru.

"Today we will be playing catch the blond" Asuma stated.

"Are you serious?"

"What!"

Shikamarua and Ino yelled at the same time.

"You heard me. Shikamaru you need to work on your endurance and Ino you need to work on your speed. Choji you need to work on stealth" Asuma stated before lighting a cigarette.

"How long of a head start do I get?" Ino groaned.

"Two minutes, you had better get going. You know the boundaries by now" Asuma stated blowing smoke into the air.

Ino sighed before sprinting across the training ground and into the think foliage in the forest near training ground 1.

Two minutes slowly ticked by. "You ready boys?" Asuma inquired.

"What a drag" Shikamaru stated.

"Yeah" Choji answered.

"Go get her" Asuma said. "You're being timed"

At this Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk slightly. "This will prove to her that she isn't prepared to face that Dosu guy" he muttered to Choji.

The other boy sighed. It was going to be a long day.


	2. Training day 1

Ino breathed hard as she darted through the forest, she could hear Shikamaru's footsteps behind her. She pushed herself more.

His shadow possession jutsu threatening to catch her if she stayed on the ground too long. if she could just stay that far ahead of him she would be safe. She needed to think of a fast way to escape him.

But knowing her luck he was probably ten moves ahead of her.

She had to think of something fast.

Something that Ino would never do, something that he didn't think she would do. Then she saw it.

The lake.

She used to always complain to him about how nasty the water was and how the algae gave her the creeps.

She jumped down from the trees quickly and continued her sprint towards the lake.

Shikamaru landed behind her and then she heard another set of heavy foot steps.

Chouji had been waiting there all along.

Damn it, Shikamaru was always ten moves ahead of her.

They thought they had her cornered, they knew that she didn't like the lake.

She mentally prepared herself. _OK Ino you've got this. Don't let your vanity get in the way. If you are going to become a chunin you have to get over this_

She inwardly squealed as she leapt into the water and quickly swam down towards the bottom of the lake. She looked up at the surface to see the silhouettes of Shikamaru and Chouji waiting at the top.

This is it.

She swam beneath the trees and hid in among the roots of a willow tree.

She quickly preformed the hand signs of her mind transfer jutsu and aimed for Chouji.

She entered the boy's mind easily and turned towards Shikamaru.

"Give up, Shika" she said through Chouji's body as she reached for the shadow user.

Instead she caught a shadow clone.

_Shit. Where is he? _

"Ino" Shikamaru's voice rang out from above.

She looked up to see the boy standing in the tree branches above her. Her dripping wet body in his arms.

_Always ten steps ahead_.

"Release the jutsu. We win" Shikamaru stated.

Ino sighed and preformed the hand signs to release the jutsu.

She opened her eyes still in Shikamaru's arms.

"Put me down" she demanded.

The boy did as he was told.

"You threw me for a quick trip when you dove into the lake. Unfortunate for you, I created shadow clones while you were hiding underwater and sent them all out to find you. Chouji stayed here as bait, knowing that he would be the one who's mind you would take over" Shikamaru explained.

Ino groaned.

_Always at least 10 steps ahead_ her inner self reminded.

"You lasted longer than expected if it makes you feel any better" Chouji stated as he reached into his pocket for a bag of chips.

Ino rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated noise before turning and storming away.

Shikamaru and Chouji exchanged glances before the two of them following at a leisurely pace.

"How long did she last?" Asuma asked when Shikamaru and Chouji arrived. Ino was currently beating her frustration out of a training dummy.

Shikamaru couldn't help but wince when he saw her kick the dummy in a rather sensitive area for men.

"Forty minutes" Chouji answered.

Asuma turned towards the girl. "She's getting better. Did she do anything impressive? Why is she wet-did you two throw her in the lake?"

"She actually had a pretty good plan. She jumped in the lake to throw us off and then she hid her body in one of the willow trees before possessing me. But Shikamaru had a plan already. He split up into shadow clones and found Ino's body" Chouji explained.

"It was a stupid plan. She left her body" Shikamaru stated putting his hands in his pockets.

"That was how she won the chunin exams" Asuma pointed out.

"No she won because she was too damn stubborn to give up" Shikamaru replied.

Asuma smirked before lighting a cigarette.

"This guy who she is up against is the one who figured out the entire Ino-Shika-Cho formation in a matter of minutes. When Ino possessed his teammate, the girl who I fought in the preliminaries, he didn't hesitate to take her out. This man feels nothing" Shikamaru argued.

Asuma nodded before blowing a stream of smoke in the air "Ino."

Shikamaru watched as Ino walked towards them. She had removed her arm warmers that were currently drying in a tree. The cover she wore to hide her hair was missing from her swim in the lake, revealing her short spikey ponytail, the usually silver blond strands now a darker gold due to being wet.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Go and take a lunch break. Be back here at 2:00 with Shikamaru. Chouji, you and are going to do a few more things then you are free to go" Asuma said to the round faced boy.

"Awww…you mean I can't eat yet? I'm so hungry" Chouji complained.

"How are you hungry?" Ino demanded incrediously

"I'm a growing boy!" Chouji snapped back.

"What a drag" Shikamaru found himself saying "Leave him alone troublesome woman" he muttered.

"What did you say!" she demanded her anger now focused on him.

"Let's go eat" he said as he turned to walk away.

Ino glared after the boy before walking off in the opposite direction towards her home. She wanted to get out of these wet clothes and take a nap. Maybe she would eat an apple or something. She needed to lose those three pounds.

She walked to her home and waved to her dad when she walked past the flower shop. When she got to her room she stripped off her wet clothes and toweled herself dry with a fluffy purple towel before pulling on a pair of short black spandex shorts and a Konoha t-shirt with the fire emblem on the front.

She winced when she saw her ugly hair in the mirror. She sighed before setting her alarm and laying down on her bed.

An hour later, the blond kunochi arrived at the training grounds. Shikamaru was already waiting for her, his arms behind his head as he gazed skywards.

"Looks like rain, what a drag" Shikamaru stated.

"A little rain never hurt anyone. Besides it makes the flowers grow" Ino stated with a smile as she inhaled the scent of rain heavy in the air. The blond loved the rain, the smell, the sound, the way that the world seemed to be refreshed after each shower.

Shikamaru rolled his deep brown eyes.

Ino let out an annoyed sigh.

"OK you two, let's do a spar. Everything goes except your kekki genkai" Asuma stated.

"What?" Ino screeched the same time Shikamaru muttered "What a drag"

"Odds are neither of you will be able to preform your kekki genkai. Shikamaru you need shadows and if your battle is at high noon, you could be screwed against Temari. And Ino you know the risk of your kekki genkai if you miss" Asuma stated simply.

Ino and Shikamaru found themselves unable to argue with their sensai.

"Loser buys dinner?" Shikamaru stated with a smirk.

He noticed the doubt flash through Ino's beautiful sapphire eyes. She knew that she didn't really stand a chance against him. He was a genius after all. Ino may have graduated top in the class at the academy but that was only because Shikamaru was honestly too bored and lazy to pick up a pencil.

She must have noticed the cocky look that appeared on his face because before he knew it he received a punch in the face that sent him sprawling to the ground.

"You may be smarter, Shika. But I'm not going to go down without a fight" Ino stated as Shikamaru climbed back to his feet and touched his bleeding lip.

"That's because you're too stubborn and troublesome to know when to quit. You don't know when to back down Ino. You will get a squad killed one day if you don't learn when retreat is the best option" Shimaru stated as he began to form a strategy in his head.

He squatted down into his usual thinking position but his thoughts were cut short when a barrage of sebon needles came flying at him, causing him to duck and roll out of the way.

_Damn, she knows everything about me. She's not going to let me think_ Shikamaru thought.

"What a drag" he muttered to himself before making five shadow clones.

About thirty feet away Ino was deep in thought, trying to figure out the best way to defeat Shikamaru. This boy was a genius there was no way she would stand a chance and she knew that. But she had to try. Her best bet was to not let him get into his thinking pose. If he did that, he would have time to formulate a plan and she would definitely be screwed.

The five shadow clones that Shikamaru created started running towards her. She knew what he was doing, creating a distraction so that he could vanish and think.

"Oh no you don't" she stated as she ran thorough the barrage of Shikamaru clones towards the real one.

Shikamaru quickly drew a kunai to block her attack.

_Damn it where the hell are my shadow clones?_ Shikamaru thought.

Then he saw them, fighting with Ino shadow clones.

"When did you make those?" he demanded as she sliced at him before he jumped out of the way.

"When you were on the ground" Ino replied this time trying to kick him.

Shikamaru couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face. "Looks like you might know a thing or two about strategy after all" he stated.


	3. End of day 1

Ino groaned when she saw the bill that she had to pay after her spar with Shikamaru.

Shikamaru smirked as Ino counted out her money to pay for the tab. He would never admit it, but Ino had gotten close to defeating him in that spar. She was getting better at forming strategies, her fighting skills and movements were getting better. Her almost defeat by Sakura had made her focus more. She was less cocky now…although she has almost gotten too cautious.

No wonder she graduated top in their class. She was smart.

But he was smarter.

When she finished paying she stood up with a slight huff "You coming genius?" she demanded.

Shikamaru stood up lazily "Nah, I'm going to go to the hill" he stated placing his hands in his pockets.

Ino groaned but waved good bye as she headed out the door towards the training fields.

_I have to get stronger_.

She started her warm up by running around the training grounds. After a couple of miles she stopped to catch her breath before deciding to work on her target practice. Ino was a pretty good shot, but out of the ten kunai she threw only six of them hit the center of the target, the rest although they hit the target, were too wide.

"Looks like someone needs a bit more practice" a voice sounded from behind her.

She jumped and turned around a kunai in her hand.

"Relax Yamanaka-san, I came here to train the same as you" the Hyuuga boy stated as he entered the training grounds.

Ino still glanced at him skeptically. It was hard to trust a boy who was almost as pretty as she was.

"I am going to use do some byukagan training. You continue your target practice. I will be behind you" Neji said.

Ino scoffed. "How do I know that you won't attack me?" she demanded.

"You aren't worth my time , besides I am amazed that you made it to the final battle" Neji replied.

Ino had a short temper and she was willing to admit that. She turned around quickly and threw a kunai at the Hyuuge protégé.

Neji turned quickly and caught the kunai. His byukagan was not activated but he certainly wasn't expecting someone as "weak" as Yamanaka to challenge him.

Ino instantly realized her mistake when she saw the boy activate his byakugan.

_Shit_ her inner self whispered.

But before she could react, Neji had her pinned against one of the targets, his arm spread across her collar bones just blow her neck and his hand inches away from her heart, glowing with chakara of the now activated byukagan.

"If you try anything like that again, I will kill you" Neji stated his face only inches from her own.

He released Ino who fell to her knees in shock and relief.

She glared at the Hyuuga boy's retreating back as he left the training ground.

When he was out of sight she climbed to her feet. She was still shaking from the interaction her and Neji had just had. She then recalled the chunin exams when Neji was about to deliver a death blow to Hinata.

_He won't even hesitate to kill his own cousin. What makes you think he wouldn't take you out? _ Her inner self said to her.

She took a deep breath before walking around the targets and pulling each of her kunai out of the target before standing in the middle of the ring.

_ Let's try again._

She trained until the sun went down. Her target practice switched to taijutzu and was then replaced with push ups and sit ups.

Once the workout was finished the sun was beginning to go down and she decided it was time to leave the training grounds. As she wandered through the training grounds she saw Kiba and Hinata sparring one another. It was obvious to tell that Kiba was holding back against the Hyuuga heiress, Ino had always had a soft spot for the pretty Hyuuga girl so she wandered over.

"Hi Hinata, hi Kiba" she greeted with a smile.

"Ino" Kiba replied obviously wondering why the blond kunochi was there.

"H-hello I-Ino chan" Hinata greeted with a small smile.

Ino instantly turned her attention to the Hyuuga girl. "Hinata, I couldn't help but notice the way you are holding and swinging you kunai…I know it is very forward of me but do you mind if I give you some pointers?" Ino asked.

"um.. o-ok" Hinata muttered.

Ino smiled brightly and walked slowly over to the Hyuuga girl ignoring the dirty look that Kiba was giving her.

"Hinata, with the byukagan…you are a close range fighter, right?" Ino asked as she drew her own wepon.

"H-hai" Hinata stuttered.

"Show me your stance and how you hold the kunai" Ino demanded.

She watched as Hinata fell into her stance holding her kunai awkwardly. Ino walked up to the girl and moved Hinata's feet with her feet and reached down to push her knees into a bent postion.

Hinata blushed at the contact. "I…I feel like I..I am…in t-the b-byukagan p-position"

Ino nodded as she stood up. "Exactly…why try to fight in a different position if you already know a successful way to use close contact" she explained.

"OK Kiba. Go" she said.

Kiba nodded and attacked Hinata who blocked the attack and continued to fight against the Inuzuka boy. Hinata she was doing better and Ino could tell that Kiba suddenly had to bring it up a notch. But he eventually knocked the kunai out of Hinata's hand.

It was then that Ino noticed that way that Hinata's hand was awkwardly wrapped around the kunai and the way that it was easily knocked out of the girl's hand, as well as the way that she picked up the kunai with her left hand.

"Hinata…are you naturally left handed?" she asked.

Hinata looked at the girl with a blush…"Y-yes…but f-father s-says i-it's in-inappropriate"

Ino smiled sympathetically. "Just try with your left hand" she encouraged as she nodded to Kiba to attack again.

This time Hinata's grasp on the kunai was more solid. And Kiba had to kick it up another notch. Ino smiled as she watched the spar until finally Hinata successfully knocked the kunai out of Kiba's hand.

"Hell yeah, Hinata" she cheered.

Hinata was still in shock while Kiba was smiling proudly.

"Th-thank you…i-Ino chan" "Hinata said softly.

Ino smiled. "No problem" before she walked away.

When she got home she greeted her father happily. Although there was always a pang of sadness; she expected her mom to be too, but she wasn't.

Ino's mother had died the year after Ino entered the academy.

Cancer had taken her life. That night she had cried in Shikamaru's arms while her father, Shaiku and Chouza sat together and drank sake.

"How are you, daddy?" she asked.

Inochi gave her a soft smile before tugging at Ino's stubby ponytail. "I'm sorry you had to cut your hair" he said "I never got to tell you that"

"But I won the battle…so it was worth it" she said with a smile.

Inochi gave her daughter a proud smile before saying "I can't argue with that"

Ino smiled "What do you want to make for dinner?" she asked. Her father was a horrible cook so Ino had taken over cooking while he washed the dishes. Whenever they got in a fight, Ino made sure to dirty as many pots and pans as she could… _what can I say, I am vengeful like that_.

"Whatever you want to make, sweetheart" he said.

Ino decided to make some yakisoba noodles with some vegetables. When she finished she and her father sat together to eat.

"How was training today?" he asked.

"Shikamaru beat me again" she muttered as she angrily stabbed a carrot.

"Remember that boy is a genius lazy as hell but a genius, Ino. Odds are he could beat a number of people"

Ino sighed she knew that he was right. But she wasn't about to give up yet.

"I got close to beating him today…I mean as close as one can get" she said with a smile.

"That's my girl" he said proudly.

She smiled as they finished eating their meal.


	4. Day 2

Ino awoke early that morning, the sun had yet to rise, the sky still shaded by blue and the gray light was just beginning to stain the heavens above.

She put on a pair of shorts and a tank top, opting out of her typical purple outfit and bandages. She silently slipped out the door and began her run around the still sleeping village; the only sign of life was the baker pulling the loaves of bread out of the oven. She gave him a little wave as she ran past him, the baker raised his hand shyly.

When her run concluded, the sun had risen in the sky and she stopped in the training grounds to wait for the rest of team 10. An hour later Chouji and Asuma met her, following shortly after by Shikamaru.

Asuma turned to Shikamaru "We are going to see what your shadow possession jutsu can really do"

"What a drag" he muttered before turning towards his teammates and beginning to form the now familiar hand signs that both Chouji and Ino noticed immediately.

Ino and Chouji quickly jumped out of the way.

Ino made sure to stay in the direct sunlight and at least 30 feet away from the trees, knowing that the shadow user's range was about 30 feet without another shadow to increase his range.

She saw Chouji in a similar position she was in and smiled. Chouji also knew a lot about strategy although he was just too shy to show off his abilities.

When Shikamaru went into his thinking position to think, Ino drew three sebon needles, Chouji saw her movements and mimicked her. They nodded to one another and with a silent count of three threw their weapons at the same time.

Both ninja then jumped back 6 feet, knowing that Shikamaru would spread his shadow in one of their 3 needles reading 3-5 feet.

But Shikamaru was already 10 steps ahead, grabbing the shadows from both Ino's and Chouji's weapons before throwing his now 10 foot long shadow at Chouji.

The boy's body was engulfed in shadow before it turned and leaped towards Ino.

"Shit" she said before jumping back another five feet as Shikamaru's shadow tried to reach her only to land a foot short.

She looked up noticing the clouds that were beginning to move in the wind. If they moved any closer than she would definitely be caught in Shikamaru's shadow.

Shikamaru noticed too by the smirk that he gave her.

She sighed. She had one shot, she held her hands out in front of her and prepared to perform the hand signs necessary to perform the Mind possession jutsu, only to find that her body couldn't move.

She looked down with her eyes only to see that she was caught by the shadow of her arms held out before her right as she was about to preform her jutsu.

_Always ten steps ahead._

She felt herself involuntarily walk up to Shikamaru until they were only a foot apart.

"I won" he said before dropping the jutsu.

Ino's pretty eyes glared at him as he dropped the jutsu. If she couldn't beat him, how the hell was she going to beat that Dosu guy? It was true that compared to Dosu, Shikamaru was a genius but he had been working with Ino long enough to figure out a strategy.

Then again so had she. She figured out his range and with the combined efforts of her and Couji, they could have taken him down with her sebon move, but Shikamaru was trying to make a point. Ino needed to drop out of the final exam. He and she both knew that she had run out of options though. The clouds were moving in, the forest surrounded her, and his shadow was only a foot away from her.

Her only option was to use the mind possession, and Shikamaru had figured out that this was her only option. He patiently waited for her to put her arms out in front of her before he let his shadow rest in the shadow of her slender arms.

She was caught.

He had won.

Asuma came up to Ino and Shikamaru and patted him on the shoulder. "Nice work kid" he said as he patted the shadow-user on the back.

"Ino, you were backed up in a corner and did the only thing that you could do" Asuma said.

The girl nodded. She felt weak once again. _Stupid Shikarmaru_ she thought.

Shikamaru gave her a successful look. Maybe her hard head would figure out that she couldn't win, especially against a guy like Dosu. That man was so logical and great at assessing situations.

Ino was too brash and rushed into things.

He would destroy her. If she got hit with his sound waves, she definitely wouldn't be able to beat the Sound Nin. That attack caused disorientation, vertigo, and nausea. Those things would keep her from being able to perform her jutsu, she would definitely miss Dosu if she used her kekki genkai.

"Oi, Shikamaru are you listening?" her voice broke through his thoughts.

Shikamaru broke away from his thoughts and looked at the blond woman, "What?"

Ino rolled her eyes before walking to the padded training matts and started throwing punches and kicks at it.

"She's not going to stand a chance" Shikamaru deadpanned.

Asuma lit a cigarette "You never know with that one"

"If she gets hit by Dosu's attack she will definitely be taken out. Not to mention he knows exactly what she can do and the limits of her attack"

"She knows that same about him" Asuma said blowing smoke into the air.

"Sensai…" the young genius trailed off.

Asuma sighed and instead of responding walked over to Ino and lightly corrected her stance.

A crunching sound was heard behind him and Shikamaru didn't even have to turn around to see Chouji.

"She's going to get killed"

_Munch. Munch_. The boy didn't reply.

"You agree with me, don't you?" Shikamaru asked.

Chouji gave him the exact same response "You never know. Ino is as stubborn as they come, if anything she won't go down without a fight"

The round boy did have a point.

Ino had fought tooth and nail to defeat Sakura, despite their former friendship. He could tell that she was holding back in the beginning but towards the end, Sakura had stepped it up.

"Sakura doesn't have a kekki gekai…what a drag" Shikamaru muttered as he rested his hands behind his head and looked up at the clouds.

Ino beat against the padded tree until her hands were blistered and bleeding and her long slender legs were covered in bruises.

The sun was setting and she heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Oi, Ino" a voice called from behind her.

She turned to see Kiba running towards her with Akamaru following behind.

"Hi, Kiba" she said with a smile.

"I just wanted to say thanks for helping Hinata yesterday. She really shouldn't be out there training…with the injuries that Neji inflicted on her" Kiba mused.

"Shit, is she OK? I have been so caught up in myself…" she said quickly as she apologized to the Inuzuka boy.

"Just worn out, she needs to be taking it easy, but you know her"

Ino nodded, indeed knowing that the Hyuuga girl was one of the hardest working kunochi that she had ever seen. Watching her battle Neji was one of the bravest things that Ino had ever seen.

"Are you sure she is OK?" Ino asked.

Kiba nodded.

The blond released a sigh, realizing how worried about the timid girl that she had been.

"You really care about her huh?" she said softly.

Kiba blushed slightly "Well of course, she is my teammate after all" Kiba managed to stutter out.

Ino chuckled but pretended not to notice the Inuzuka boy's obvious interest in the byukagan user.

"If you ever told her not to do something because she would lose, would you?" she asked.

Kiba looked surprised at the question but instead said softly "I said that to Hinata the day she fought Neji"

"But she fought him anyway"

"Well yeah, but look at what happened to her. Neji literally almost killed her, if it had been two minutes longer…" he let the words die on his tongue.

Ino opened her mouth to protest but Kiba beat her to it.

"Every part of me screams that it was beyond stupid of her to fight Neji, that he would kill her. And I was right… he just about did. But there is a sliver inside my heart somewhere that is beyond proud of her, for facing her fear. For finally standing up to her cousin and proving to everyone how strong she can really be"

Ino nodded at a loss for words. _I highly doubt Shikamaru cares that much. He is too logical to think about anything outside of his big pineapple head._

"Why?" Kiba inquired.

Ino shrugged. "Shikamaru doesn't want me to compete in the finals"

She could see the look of agreement that flashed through Kiba's silted eyes. The boy quickly hid it before responding "The Dosu guy is pretty terrifying…you are going to have to train your ass off before you fight him"

_Safe answer_ Ino thought.

"Well thanks, Kiba!" she said pasting a smile on her face before waving to the boy as she walked by.

She felt Kiba's eyes on her as she walked away from the training grounds.

_He doesn't think that I am strong enough either_ Ino mused to herself as she wandered back home.

She ran into Shikamaru standing outside of her house. "Are you going to withdraw?" he asked.

Ino bristled at his question. "Of course not."

"You have been defeated by me three times in the past two days, how is this not enough evidence that you are not ready?" he demanded.

"I have 27 more days, Shikamaru. Even if I lose I am not going down without a fight"

"He'll kill you. He didn't hesitate to attack his own teammate, that troublesome brunette that you used your kekki genkai on"

Ino glared at the boy. "I am not afraid of him"

"You should be. You are too pig-headed for your own good, troublesome" he muttered as he turned and walked away.

"I am not withdrawing, Shikamaru. Don't you forget it!" she cried after him.


	5. Day 3

Ino was working in the flower shop, currently in the back dressed in a pair of cut off overalls and a sports bra as she dug in the soil and re-planted the flowers that her father liked to use in his smaller arrangements. Ever since her mom had died, Ino and her father had to fight to keep the shop open because of missions that they both had to go on.

The bell above the door chimed and Ino looked at the clock overhead, it was seven in the morning no one ever came in that early…unless _Shikamaru._

"Listen, Shikamaru. I am not dropping ou" she stopped mid-sentence when she realized that it wasn't the spikey haired genius but the one with pale eyes and even longer hair.

_Dear kami, I didn__'__t think that I would see him again_ Ino thought to herself as she approached the counter and suddenly felt self-conscious of her stubby French braids and her dirty hands.

"You should consider dropping out" the genius said as he wandered among the flowers.

"What can I do for you, Hyuuga-sama" she managed to growl out.

Neji turned to look at her. She was pretty he couldn't deny that, but she was weak. Almost as weak as Hinata, with that thought in mind he spoke "I need calalilles" he said.

Ino didn't even bother trying to figure out what the hell Neji wanted with calalillies, instead she just weaved around him and gathered the flowers. Feeling artistic she added some fiddlehead ferns and a instead of wrapping it in the usual newspaper, she wrapped it in white paper and tied the bottom with a baby blue ribbon.

"Thank you" Neji said as he bowed shallowly to her and walked out the door of the flower shop.

Ino released a breath that she really didn't think that she had been holding. _Damn Hyuuga_ she muttered more to herself than to anyone else.

She wandered to the back of the shop and continued digging and replanting the plants. When she finished she stood up and stretched. Her knees were sore from kneeling on the ground for a few hours. She walked to the front of the store and was about to open the door when she nearly ran into Shikamaru.

"Can I help you?" she asked with a huff.

"You have dirt on your face" he said. Before Ino could move he reached his hand up and ran his thumb slowly from just above the middle of her upper lip and diagonally across to the left corner of her mouth on her lower lip.

Ino felt her cheeks heat up. "Anyway. What do you want?"

"Asuma wants us to meet him at the training grounds" he muttered looking away as the slight pink that appeared on his cheeks was beginning to fade.

"Awesome, let me grab my holister and we can be on our way" ino replied.

"What? No make over before we head out?" Shikamaru teased.

Ino groaned before shoving him out the door and locking it right after she flipped the sign to 'closed'

Asuma took in Ino's appearance when she arrived at the training ground with Shikamaru. She wasn't dressed in her typical attire, instead she had soil on her knees and was wearing a pair of cut-off overalls.

"New look?" he teased.

Ino narrowed her eyes at him "No I was at the flower shop and didn't have time to change" she replied.

Asuma nodded. _Hmmm…__Ino is usually too vain to ever be seen not in her purple outfit, maybe she is taking this seriously_. He thought to himself.

"What are we doing?" Shikamaru inquired with his hands in his pockets.

After training with Shikamaru and Asuma, Ino headed to another one of the training areas with the dummies. She hadn't bothered to change clothes, _No point in getting clothes dirty_.

After spending an hour beating against the dummy she lay on her back in the grass and closed her eyes.

She cracked open one eye when a figure loomed above her their shadow blocking out the sun that was warming her face.

"Sleep somewhere else, I need to train and the other training grounds are taken" Neji said.

"Don't the Hyuuga have theirown training ground?" she asked.

"Not one that would allow Tenten and Lee" Neji replied.

Ino opened both eyes and saw the other two members of Team 1 standing a few feet behind.

Ino sighed. "I wasn't sleeping, I was resting I have been beating on those dummies for a while" she replied "so technically speaking I was training."

Neji narrowed his eyes. _Once again me and my big mouth_, she sighed dramatically and climbed to her feet.

"I'm leaving, don't get your panties in a bunch" _Damn._

Neji was on her in a minute, his arm wrapped around her tiny waist and a kunai to her throat. He inhaled her floral scent and whispered against her neck "Don't push your luck Yamanaka. I really will kill you. Do I make myself clear?"

Ino looked over at Lee and Tenten who were staring with shock but also had their weapons drawn. _At least these two wouldn__'__t let him kill me_ she thought.

"Crystal" she managed to gasp out before he released her. She stumbled forward but kept her footing as she turned and glared at Neji she opened her mouth about to say something again when Tenten came forward and slapped her hand over Ino's mouth.

"Are you stupid?" She hissed at Ino.

Ino almost nodded, but didn't.

"Get out of here" Tenten said to her.

Ino nodded and grabbed her things before forcing herself to saunter cockily out of the training area. Just because he scared the hell out of her, didn't mean that she was going to let him know it. She had to be stronger now and that included mentally. She turned and looked over her shoulder at Neji who was staring at her retreating form with his hands clenched at his side.

He knew the message that she was trying to send to him. And he read it loud and clear.


	6. Day 4

For the life of her Ino still did not understand why the hell Shikamaru was so convinced that she was not going to be able to fight in the chunin exams. They had done an exercise that day in which she had her ears plugged and Shikamaru was throwing sebon needles at her in an attempt to hit her, sure sound traveled exponentially faster than needles but it was a good start. She hadn't been hit once, next time Asuma would be using a wind jutzu with colored powder to see if he could hit her then. To fight Shikamaru, Ino played tag with his shadow. He would release it and she would run or leap away from it, sometimes he would use another shadow and other time he wouldn't. He only caught her five out of fifteen times, in her opinion that was pretty damn good for her and a bit shitty for Shikamaru. But Asuma reminded her a few moments later that one was all the counted.

She sighed as she continued to beat a practice dummy, taking all of her anger at Shikamaru out on the dummy, there was sweat dripping down her face, the sun was going down and she had been at this for hours. She was getting ready to call it quits when a soft slightly timid voice called to her "Ino-san" Ino stopped punching the dummy and turned to look at Hinata.

"Hi Hinata" Ino greeted, Ino had to admit that she didn't really know the Hyuuga girl, they definitely had opposing personalities. But Ino had to admit that at the academy she almost beat her at the tea ceremony lessons, however Hinata was sweet and probably one of the hardest workers that Ino knew.

"Umm… t-thank y-you for your assistance t-the other d-d-day" Hinata asked softly.

"It wasn't a problem" Ino replied.

"I umm…I was wondering if I c-c-could help y-you out t-t-to?"

"Hinata…I am getting a bit tired, I have been at this all afternoon" Ino said awkwardly.

Hinata looked at the girl "B-but I c-c-can help you w-with your c-chakara control"

Ino now smiled at the girl "Really?" she asked. Ino knew that she had a bigger chakara reserve than Sakura, but after their battle she had realized that she really didn't have much control especially with that hair stunt that she had pulled. She subconsciously yanked at her stubby ponytail.

"H-hai. The byukagan r-requires a lot of c-c-chakara control" Hinata stammered.

Ino nodded. "That would be amazing, Hintata!"

The Hyuuga girl blushed. "O-okay, ready?" she asked.

"Now?" Ino asked.

Hinata nodded, "if you are l-low on c-chakara now, w-what b-b-better time to learn?" she asked quirking her head to the side.

_Well I can't argue with that_ Ino thought.

Shikamaru was looking for Ino, the troublesome woman had missed the weekly team meeting. First he checked the flower shop, then he checked her house, he checked the mall, and even the market but there was no Ino to be found. He sighed. _Where in the hell could she be? _He continued to amble down the streets in search of the Yamanaka girl, he saw Sakura walk out of the ramen shop with Naruto and after calling out her name sauntered over to her.

"Have you seen Ino?" he asked.

Sakura sighed. She was obviously still a bit bitter about loosing to Ino, but from what he could tell the two had managed to rekindle their relationship. "No. Sorry I haven't." Sakura replied.

"I saw her at the training grounds" Naruto said quickly.

Shikamaru looked surprised "When?"

Naruto was scratched the back of his head. "She was with Hinata"

Shikamaru was puzzled since when did Ino and Hinata become friends?

He sighed and waved goodbye to Naruto and Sakura before ambling down the street headed towards the training grounds, thoughts of a certain troublesome blonde running through his head.

Ino stood in the center of the training ground panting. Despite not being allowed to train, Hinata had drilled and drilled her to the point that she was exhausted. The steps that Hinata made her do were difficult and intricate, more like dancing than anything. "You aren't teaching me the byukagan are you?" Ino gasped as she rested her hands on her knees.

"Goodness n-no. I am t-teaching you the p-practice t-techniques that I learned w-when I was a c-child" Hinata replied.

"A child?" Ino demanded.

"The Hyuuga s-start training e-earlier than m-most clans" Hinata replied.

Ino saw the sad look in the girl's eye but instead of pressuring her like she usually did with Shikamaru and Sakura, she remained silent. She moved to stand up only to stumble and fall to her knees. _Shit, I am totally used up _she thought to herself.

Hinata ran over to her. "Ino!' she cried out kneeling beside her.

"I-I'm okay. Just managed to use myself up. You're a good teacher, Hinata. I didn't know you could be so ruthless" Ino joked.

Hinata blushed and was about to stutter what Ino assumed was an apology when Ino noticed Shikamaru walking towards them. _Wonderful._

"Oi Ino. You missed the meeting" Shikamaru explained.

Ino looked at him before a look of realization appeared on her face. "Shit. I knew that I was missing something!" she exclaimed.

"You are so troublesome. Are you alright?" he asked.

"Just pushed myself a bit too hard. Thanks Hinata! I will see you soon" Ino said with a smile and a wave at the pale eyed girl.

Hinata took the hint, knowing that yet another fight was about to begin between the two teammates. She stood up and waved lightly at Ino and nodded at Shikamaru before walking away from the training grounds towards the Hyuuga compound.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shikamaru demanded.

Ino turned and glared at her teammate. "I am training" she replied.

"You're pushing yourself too hard" Shikamaru said.

Ino glared at the boy, after today she really had pushed herself. She would need a day to recover, something that she was not willing to take. She would have to do some serious studying."I am not" she replied defiantly.

Shikamaru snorted and gave her a lopsided smirk "Prove it. Stand up"

Ino glared and managed to climb to her feet before her knees began to buckle. To her dismay, Shikamaru caught her before she fell to the ground, his arms sinewy with muscle she didn't know that he had as he held her up. "Damn it, Ino" he muttered to more to himself than to her. Ino hated to admit that her eyes were beginning to feel heavy and that her head was a bit dizzy. When she felt steady, she lightly pushed away from the brown haired boy and stood up, swaying lightly on her feet.

"Ino" he said her name with exasperation. She stepped away from him and stumbled a few steps before she managed to catch herself against a practice mat.

"Ino" Shikamaru said again as he got to her side. He sighed and wrapped her arm around his shoulders linking his fingers through hers and put his other arm around her waist as he began walking them away from the training grounds towards Ino's home which was right next door to his own.

"Woman have you been eating?" he demanded. After catching her and holding her body all the time, Shikamaru could recognize if she had gained or lost weight before she even stepped on a scale. He felt the bottom of her ribcage and there was a bit more space between it and her torso than usual.

"Of course I have. I have just been training more, besides a girl has got to look good. The fact that I am loosing weight is just a bonus" she replied sleepily.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes "If I have told you once, I will tell you again. Men like girls with curves, not stick figures that have smaller chest than they do."

Ino laughed weakly. "Thanks for the pep talk, coach"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Even when you are an inch from passing out you still have some type of snarky remark to make, huh?" he asked. And it was that attitude that was going to get her killed. She didn't know when to keep her mouth shut. Ino didn't respond instead she looked at him from beneath her long dark lashes. Her pretty blue eyes almost slipping shut as she stumbled half held up by him. Shikmaru sighed and stopped before swooping down and lifting Ino's lithe form into his arms.

"Troublesome" he muttered against her sleepy protests. She was almost immediately asleep in his arms. He couldn't help the soft smile that graced his features as he carried her the rest of the way home.


	7. Day 5

When Ino awoke the next morning her entire body was in pain. She struggled to sit up, her muscles protesting. "Damn I feel like I did after the chunin exams" she muttered to herself as she staggered out of bed and stumbled down the stairs, gripping the handrail tightly as her legs screamed in protest. She entered the kitchen to find her father sitting at the table sipping tea.

She poured herself her own mug adding milk and a bit of artificial sweetener before sitting down across from her father, wincing as she lowered herself to her seat. Her father looked up at her over his newspaper.

"So you over did it yesterday, huh?" he asked with laughter in his blue eyes.

Ino blushed.

"Shikamaru brought you home, explaining that you were training with Hinata and managed to use up all of your chakara. Looks like you are taking the day off today, huh?" it wasn't a question as he lowered the newspaper and looked at her.

"I was wondering if I could study some of the Yamanaka kekki genkai techniques?" Ino asked.

Inochi smiled at his only daughter. The Yamanaka Clan was a smaller clan, with Ino as the heiress. Unlike the Uchiha, Hyuuga, and Nara clans the Yamanaka did not live in a compound, instead they lived scattered around the village meeting once a week in a hectic family gathering. Ino and her twenty two first cousins would run around together while Inochi and his seven other brothers and sisters would bond together over sake. The Yamanaka did not mind the mixing of bloodlines, the idea that the Mind-Body switch technique could be used along with another technique appealed to the Yamanaka, although they did prefer to have them marry within the clan, a second cousin was the closest in relation that the children could be.

"Yes. Once you finish your shift at the flower shop, we will practice" Inochi replied.

Ino smiled.

Neji Hyuuga was laying on top of his immaculately made bed glaring at the ceiling, the Yamanaka girl had gotten under his skin. She was annoying, loud, weak, vain, pigheaded, stubborn and beautiful. He sighed. The look she had given him when she walked away from the training ground had definitely irritated him. The look she had given him as she walked away was the same one that Hinata had before she fought him. A look that screamed _You__'__re wrong_. She was trying to change, trying to prove herself. The difference between the one that Hinata gave and the one that Ino gave was a simple _Fuck you. _Instead of the gentle serene way that Hinata said she was going to try to get stronger, Ino's brash words and eyes just screamed_ I am going to get stronger and get out of my way_. Neji scoffed to himself she was wasting her time, she was destined to be nothing more than what she, is a beautiful face. Neji sighed he just hoped that when she fought Dosu, the guy wouldn't ruin her pretty face. Ino stood in the basement of her home behind her father. "Ino. The mind is fragile and powerful all at the same time. For all your stubbornness you should know this"

Ino blushed in response to her father's words.

"However, I do not think that I will be able to teach you full on techniques before the exams. I cannot teach you how to manipulate the mind completely but I can teach you how to persuade it if you will" Inochi continued.

Ino felt a twang of disappointment but quickly shoved it aside. "What do you mean?"

"Despite all of it's power, the mind can be easily tricked. Tell me how this Dosu boy is able to use his techniques?" Inochi inquired.

Ino explained both battles that the members of team ten had been involved in with Dosu. The first being their initial attack and meeting the second was Chouji's battle. "He has this thing on his arm that when he flicks it releases sound waves that disorient you and make you sick and loose your hearing for a temporary amount of time"

"Then we just have to make him think that his arm doesn't work" Inochi replied simply.

"What?" Ino demanded.

"You heard me. The mind can be persuaded. The hard part is that you will have to go into his mind and simply rewire a few things. This process has both it's ups and downs. The positives are that you will not have to completely leave your body, you just have to be able to concentrate, multi-task if you will. However, on that same note, you are not able to fully focus on where you are. The second is that it is simply a persuasion, eight to nine times out of ten it will work but like every mental technique, some people with strong will powers or external stimuli like Sakura had… can cause the manipulation to break"

Ino looked at her father. "But how do I find it?" she asked.

"That is where all of your studying must come into play. You must learn the mind. Learn which parts of the brain control which parts of the body. Where in the brain can the neurons that control the movement of the arm be found? Where are the neurons that control the eyes so that he cannot see it? Where are the neurons that you can fire in haphazard lines to make the mind think something else?"

Ino already felt her head spinning. This would take weeks, who knows if she could memorize all of this by then.

"If you preform the hand signs quickly and correctly, you will be able to see through the skull and see the human brain, similar to the byukagan. You will see the way that the neurons fire, a maze and series of highways that you must memorize and learn how to navigate. When you see this, you will be able to switch things around for a period of time. That length of time depends on how strong the mind is. For example it would take Shikamaru a matter of seconds to figure out a manipulation while it could take Sakura ten minutes."

"But father what if I can't? What if I have to use the mind transfer technique? I can't exactly cut off my hair again to catch him" Ino explained.

Inochi chuckled at his daughter's antics. "I was thinking about that too. As a Yamanaka you know that our primary element is earth. If you can create a wall and block some of the sound waves then you can hold him off for a second or two. That would be long enough for your soul to find him if you have a clear shot. Using this technique will allow you to create a semi-circle around yourself. There will not be much of a roof but if you duck, a majority of the damage should go above and around you. Not hit you full on" Inochi explained handing Ino yet another scroll to the pile as well as three books that she was also carrying.

The two continued to wander throughout the basement checking scrolls and exchanging theories about what else Ino could do to mentally manage to block Dosu. Eventually she and her father decided that the brain persuasion technique, the earth based technique, the mind transfer and her own physical stamina, speed and ability would be the way for her to win a battle.

"Unfortunately Ino, our kekki genkai are not by design made for up close combat, that is why the Ino Shika Cho combination is so effective. We work together to make up for the flaws that our techniques have. We must develop our skills as fighters because our techniques are best used for espionage, assassinations, torture and interrogation, and any type of emotional manipulation" Inochi explained.

Ino found herself nodding. "Yes, father"

"You are determined and you are stubborn. I know that you will fight well and fight hard. You will bring honor to the Yamanaka name win or loose. No one in our clan has made it this far in the chunin exams as a rookie. Ino I will be proud of you. Win or loose" Inochi explained.

Ino sighed. She wanted to hug her father and tell him that everything was going to be okay, but she couldn't with the books and scrolls shoved into her arms. Instead she used her words. "Thank you daddy. I will do my best" was all that she managed to say before father and daughter went back to the main floor. After setting her scrolls and books down on the table she turned and hugged her father tightly. "Thank you, daddy"

Inochi smiled as he hugged his daughter back. She might die, he knew that and he prayed to every god he knew that it would not happen. He also knew in the back of his mind that if anyone was too stubborn to die it would be his daughter. She was too vain to die a messy death but too prideful to take anything less than a fight to the death. He admired and worried about her because of this trait that she had unfortunately inherited from him. Despite taking after her mother when it came to being stubborn to the point of hardheaded and maybe a little too vain for her own good, Ino was her father's daughter.

"I have go to the T&I Unit. Have fun studying, I will see you later tonight" Inochi said as he waved to his daughter and walked out the door.

Ino smiled and waved back before taking a deep breath and grabbing the first of many scrolls that she was ready to memorize.


	8. Day 6

As Shikamaru sauntered down the streets of Konoha, he found himself across the street from the Yamanaka flower shop. He paused and looked in the clearly just cleaned glass window to see Ino sitting at the counter reading a scroll of what was probably Clan Techniques, she had mentioned something along those lines to him last time they had trained together. She was angry at him then, hell she probably still was. _Troublesome. _That word described Ino in a nutshell. Everything about the word trouble seemed to follow Ino around in some way. She was not the typical rowdy trouble that Naruto or Kiba was, although she had her tendencies to be rash, loud and overall annoying. She was the type who would cause trouble from the inside. True to the Yamanaka Clan bloodline, Ino played with the mind. her flirtatious personality was contagious and she could make you fall in love or despise someone quickly and as she continued to grow older, the mind games just got stronger. Ino was going to be beautiful one day, she was already pretty now..but in a few years…the entire village knew it. He watched as she glanced at the clock and shoved the scroll in her holster before disappearing in the back of the shop. Shikamaru sighed he felt like a creeper standing and watching her so he wandered away, he would see her in a few hours anyway.

Hinata and Ino met later on that day, Hinata drilling and running Ino through the basic Hyuuga movements. "The w-whole p-point of these exercises is t-to ease your mind and h-help you to c-control your emotions. A troubled m-mind is a reckless mind and a reckless m-mind p-prevents you from k-keeping you c-chakara in control." Hinata explained as she made Ino do the same routine for the twentieth time. Ino nodded, she was already sweating from the difficulty of the techniques. The movements were slow and deliberate, using her body weight and holding the seemingly simple move for long period of time.

"It-it w-was your emotions d-during the battle against S-Sakura as well as Naruto cheering her on that almost k-kept you f-from winning." Hinata said softly as she stepped forward and fixed Ino's arm so that it was held straight ahead of her as opposed to dropping. This was yoga, the Warrior Position as Hinata called it.

Ino glanced at the Hyuuga girl. _Holy shit she is right. I was an emotional wreck during that battle. _

"That is why Neji meditates so much. He has his emotions so in check." Hinata explained.

Ino remained silent, she had been holding this position for she didn't know how long now and her arm was beginning to shake. Hinata noticed her wince and gave her a soft smile "You are almost done."

Ino gave her a weak smile. Hinata had said that when she trained with the Hyuuga that they would do this all day. Hinata used fans she liked the extension and the extra half pound made all the difference. Ino couldn't imagine doing something like that. Her muscles were already screaming at her in pain.

"You are finished" Hinata explained.

Ino nodded and allowed herself to collapse to the ground. "How did I do?" Ino asked.

Hinata deactivated her Byuukagan "Better. You still leak chakara but I think that is because you don't allow yourself to really zone out. Your mind is always wandering."

Ino blushed.

"I guess it is a side-effect of being a mind walker." Hinata said.

"Or just being restless and a loud mouth." Ino replied with a smirk.

Hinata laughed slightly. "I need to go. I will see you soon, Ino." Hinata said with a soft smile.

"Thank you. I will see you." Ino replied standing up and bowing to the Hyuuga heiress. Hinata smiled and bowed shallowly back before leaving the training grounds, probably in search of her own team. Shino had been training hard with Kiba and Kurenai and Ino knew that Hinata felt useless and decided that the least she could do was prepare lunches and cheer her teammates on.

Ino sat up and looked at the sun, she still had an hour before training with Shikamaru and Asuma began. "Maybe a slow run around the training grounds will do me some good." she muttered to herself. She began the slow jog around the training grounds smiling and waving at the ninja who noticed her as she passed. As she was running through training ground four, she heard someone scream her name before four kunai suddenly appeared, spinning crazily in her direction. She dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way as the four kunai landed. She looked up at the weapons and then around for the idiot who almost killed her.

"Ino! Are you alright?" Tenten demanded as she appeared at the edge of the training ground. Ino stood up and began dusting herself off but due to how sweaty she was as well as the humidity she only succeeded in spreading what used to be dirt turned mud on her body.

"Yeah. What was that, Tenten?" Ino asked. She hoped that her tone didn't sound too horrible from the sheepish look that Tenten gave her.

"I am sorry, I was helping Neji train and he blocked my attacks. Looks like we still were not far enough from the path." Tenten explained as Neji appeared.

Ino sighed and rolled her eyes. "No worries, Tenten." she said cheerfully before looking over at Neji. "Hyuuga." she greeted.

"Yamanaka." Neji replied. Of course of all the people he had to almost hit it had to be Yamanaka. The Yamanaka girl was streaked with dirt turned mud from her fall, her lithe form was sweaty, and her hands were wrapped from obviously training with the dummies. He remembered the look that she had given him as she walked away a few days ago, the way that her pretty eyes were narrowed the same way that they were now and her arms crossed in a challenge just like they were now. Her stubby hair was hidden beneath the orange bun cover and the bangs that covered her right eye were sweaty. He couldn't help but think that she looked attractive, it was true that he had seen Tenten look like that, but Ino managed to make it look powerful. A thought that he quickly shook from his head.

"Anyways." Tenten started slowly. "We all have training to do. So we will be seeing you." Tenten said feeling the obvious tension in the air and grabbing onto Neji's arm. Neji allowed his teammate to drag him away. He remembered a fact that he read one about when two predators stare at one another for more than a minute they are either going to break into a fight or mate. From the way that Yamanaka was looking at him and the smug look that he was giving her, he assumed that she was preparing for the first one.

Ino nodded. "I do too. See you around Tenten! Neji." she replied with a nod to him and a friendly wave to Tenten.

Shikamaru sighed as he stood across from Ino in the middle of the river. Asuma stood between them an unlit cigarette between his lips. "The objective is simple. You are sparing in the middle of the river. The first to fall in the water looses." Asuma stated.

"Troublesome. Remind me why we are doing this again?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because neither of you have chakara control." Asuma muttered simply.

"Anything else we need to know?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yosh!" a voice yelled from above before Chouji jumped into the water, his body changing into a big round ball as he enacted the multi-size technique. He bobbed in the water like a giant water hazard marker. He soon began spinning using his clan's technique as he rolled through the water.

"And you have to dodge Chouji." Asuma said as Chouji's body rolled past.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered to himself. From the way that Ino was looking at Asuma he assumed that she felt the same way. She had her arms crossed over her modest chest and her sapphire eyes narrowed.

"Ready?" Asuma asked.

Shikamaru sighed and Ino nodded. "Go."

Ino took off at a sprint towards Shikamaru. The shadow user jumped aside and dodged just in time. He turned around quickly to see Ino's foot approaching the side of his head, he ducked sweeping his foot out to trip her but she jumped up and back. She stood catching her breath, her arms up to defend herself. Before he had a chance to think, she attacked again. Both had to jump apart quickly as Chouji rolled between them, bringing up a wave of water.

"Give it up, Ino. You know that my chakara control is better than yours!" Shikamaru cried out.

"But I have more. And your chakara control sucks." she said back as she began running towards him again. Shikamaru dodged her attack and she had to jump up to avoid Chouji. She misjudged his speed and instead of him rolling past her, she ended up landing on top of him. She struggled to keep her balance on the Akamichi boy, running on the spinning boy as if she was running on a log trying to keep her balance. Shikamaru stopped and watched amused as the girl struggled to keep her balance. _It__'__s only a matter of time before she falls in the water_.

Ino was freaking out. She was going to fall and she was going to loose because she couldn't keep her balance on a freakishly fast moving ball of boy. She had to think fast if she wanted to do this. She looked around frantically trying to figure out something that she could do. She took a deep breath the way that Hinata told her and another trying to calm herself down in some way. _Inhale for seven seconds. Hold it for seven seconds. Exhale for seven seconds, _instead of her own voice she heard Hinata's gentle voice.

Then she saw it, a tree branch hanging out towards the middle of the river. _If I make that jump I will have to drop down fast, I will be an easy target for Shikamaru_. She thought to herself, but it was a better chance that just falling into the water. _He might win but I am not going down without a damn fight_. She looked up at the branch, if she could just stay on Chouji's body a little longer than she would be within distance of the branch. She took another deep breath and channeled chakara to her feet. She could not afford to miss this job. Then she did it. And caught the branch. As fast as she could she channeled chakara into her feet and dropped, noticing the four sebon needles that landed where she had just been. Her feet sank a few inches into the water but she was still standing. Taking another deep breath, she straightened herself out just in time to dodge another of Shikamaru's attacks.

Shikamaru groaned. _Damn it, she has never had that kind of balance before_. _She was supposed to fall. Plan B_. He rushed at her, causing her to dodge him, skidding to the side on the water. _I need to distract her, and get her stuck in one spot. I am not sure if I can use the shadow possession while on the water. I know for a fact that Ino won__'__t be able to use her mind transfer technique. _He sighed and stopped before the Yamanaka girl. She stopped before him, and drew a kunai from her holster. "Give it up Yamanaka." he taunted. _I just have to get her angry and distracted. Ino is driven by emotion._

"Not to you, Nara." she replied.

"You can't win in the exams. You barely beat Sakura and we both know where she graduated in the academy."

"Shut up, Shikamaru! At least I wasn't a dead last." she cried out.

Shikamaru smirked. "And yet, here I am. About to compete in the chunnin exams with you."

"Shut up!" she screamed throwing her kunai at him. Shikamaru blocked the attack and quickly preformed his shadow binding technique. To his surprise she noticed it and dodged it. But the dodge instead sent her into Chouji's path. The Akamichi boy hit her and Ino went flying before landing in the water a few feet upstream. She resurfaced and glared daggers at Shikamaru before she swam to the bank and climbed out of the water. She had lost yet another bun to the water and frustratedly she ran her fingers through her hair trying to shake the water out. Shikamaru let out a breath. He had to admit that Chouji had been part of the plan but he wasn't supposed to show up just yet. Shikamaru did not predict that Chouji would turn at that moment and that Ino would have landed in that spot. He was expecting to catch her in the bind and then wait until Chouji came. But this ended up working better. _That plan went through better than expected_.

"Good job you two. Ino you have to be more aware of your surroundings. Shikamaru when Ino was trying to keep her balance on Chouji, you should have attacked instead of just watched. You had that as well as the moment that she caught herself on that tree branch to catch her." Asuma chided.

Both students nodded. Shikamaru could still feel Ino's sapphire eyes on him.

"Barbecue!" Chouji cried out appearing back on land, he was as wet as Ino and smiling brightly. Ino gave out an unexpected laugh. "Looks like we all need to change before heading to the restaurant."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.

"Or you can just go wet. I don't really care." Ino scoffed.

Asume chuckled at the two teammate's antics. He sighed and watched as Ino walked off. "See you there!" Asuma called out. He turned to Shikamaru. "She had you. You got lucky that Chouji was there."

Shikamaru scoffed. "No she didn't."

Asuma chucked. "She had significantly more chakara than you. She was willing to play it out. She figured out your plan quickly, what neither of you were expecting was for Chouji to make a quick turn like that."

"I already had three other plans if that one didn't work. Unlike her I can use my kekki genkai on this particular exercise." Shikamaru replied.

"Why don't you tell me about those plans on the way to lunch." Asuma said simply as he placed an arm around the boy's shoulders before leading the way to Chouji's favorite restaurant.

Ino walked down the streets practically fuming. She was still soaking wet and had opted to take off her arm warmers and the bandages wrapped around her torso in hopes that she would dry out faster in some way. Under normal circumstances she would have enjoyed the looks that a few of the shinobi were giving her, but right now she was just too pissed. If she had been paying attention to Chouji as opposed to getting angry at Shikamaru's taunts she would have beaten him. So lost in thought she bumped into someone that she didn't expect to see. She stumbled backwards blinking rapidly. "Sasuke?" she asked.

Said Uchiha stepped back and put his hands in his pockets.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital? They have been looking for you." Ino said her anger already disappearing at the prospect of seeing and flirting with Sasuke.

"Yes. And if you really care about me, you will let me go. Without causing a scene." he stated.

Ino was at a loss for words. Part of her wanted to embrace him saying that she was so glad that he was alright. Another wanted to slap him for being so stupid. "Okay." she said simply.

Sasuke stepped around her and paused turning back. "By the way, Ino. I like your hair." he said to her softly before he vanished.

Self consciously Ino's hands went to her hair that she had yanked back into an irritated half falling down ponytail. _I thought he liked girls with long hair_ she thought to herself. "He is making fun of me." was all she said before walking home and changing into dry clothes.

Asuma walked with Shikamaru and Chouji to the restaurant, as they walked Shimakaru explained not one or two, but three excellent plans that would have indeed defeated Ino. Each plan had a contingency plan and if the contingency plan didn't work, he would move on to the next plan. In total he had six plans thought out in his head if one didn't work. Asuma couldn't help but admire Shikamaru, the boy really was a genius. Albeit a lazy one. _This kid really might end up winning something._


	9. Day 7

Ino groaned when her alarm went off at six o clock in the morning. She rolled over and slammed her hand against the snooze button before huddling into her bed once more. Two minutes later the same alarm buzzed and once again she felt around blindly before hitting the snooze button. The third time the alarm buzzed she grabbed it and threw it against the wall where it fell to the floor with a louder clatter than the actual sound of the alarm. She sighed and sat up, running fingers through her messy blonde hair and rubbing sleep out of her cerulean eyes.

She shoved the covers away from her body and changed into the closest set of work out clothes that she could find. Yanking on a pair of shorts and a sports bra, then pulling on her workout shoes, Ino slipped out the door and went on a run through the village. Running in the morning was Ino's favorite time. The sun was just beginning to rise, bathing the village in a glow of soft colors. The smells of bread baking in the bakery and coffee brewing at the cafes wafted through the air as she ran through the mostly empty streets of the city.

An hour later she returned and after showering and changing into her typical purple attire, walked to the kitchen where she had left her scrolls on clan jutzus and about the human brain. She grabbed the scrolls, books, and a granola bar before walking to the flower shop. Her father was away on a mission for the next two days and Ino had agreed to work the shop for him. It was the least that she could do after him spending countless hours with her answering her questions about the new clan techniques and the ways that the brain was mapped. She hummed to herself as she began the morning routine of taking inventory and watering the flowers, removing the dead ones and bringing in the bouquets from the back that her father had created the night before. Once finished she flipped the sign to open and sat at the counter.

Her newest test for herself was to see if she could draw the image of the brain and label all the parts of it as well as their functions without looking at the original drawing. As soon as she mastered that she planned on doing the same with the neurons. She was currently trying to remember the functions of the medula before the bell chimed and she looked up to see a waft of cigarette smoke float among the aisles of flowers before her teacher appeared before her.

"Asuma-sensai." she greeted happily.

Her teacher jumped turned to her and smiled. "Hello Ino. I didn't know that you were working the shop today." he exclaimed.

"I told you last night when I said I wouldn't be able to train with the rest of the team today or tomorrow because Dad is away on a mission and I told him that I would be watching the shop until he got back." Ino deadpanned.

"Oh well in that case. I just wanted to um- to." he stuttered. Asuma wasn't expecting his student to be working the shop this early.

"Just between you and me, sensai. I heard that Kurenai-sensai is partial to asters and carnations. Just a little heads up." Ino said, exposing the worst kept secret in the village.

Asuma blushed. "What do they mean?" he found himself asking.

Ino chuckled lightly. "Asters are said to bring luck and protection, while carnations show admiration, love and affection." Ino replied.

Asuma stood in the shop for a moment and looked at the girl before sighing. Leave it to Ino, the hopeless romantic to figure out his relationship with Kurenai so quickly. "Love and affection, huh?" Asuma asked rubbing his chin in thought.

Ino smiled. "Yep." Then she stood up and walked down the aisle where there was a bucket of water holding the carnations and another holding the asters. Deft fingers plucked the flowers and created a small bouquet for the flower, she then added a few other flora that caught her eye before wrapping them in the clear plastic and holding them out to her teacher.

"Is this alright?" she asked.

Asuma stared for a moment at the lovely bouquet before him. Ino had chosen all reds and whites as well as a few darker purple colors weaved in there. The flowers together seemed to scream Kurenai from their colors to the message that he was trying to convey to the woman that he loved. "Perfect." he replied.

Ino rang him up at the cash register. "Thank you, Ino."

"See you soon, Asuma-sensai." she replied waving as the man walked out the door.

Ino quickly returned to her drawing, labeling and drawing the images of the brain to the best of her ability. She was interrupted again when the bell chimed. She looked up in shock seeing the man she would be battling in a three weeks, Dosu standing in the doorway. Quickly she shoved the scrolls and papers she had been studying aside, hoping that they would cover one another. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"No. I just wanted to scope out the competition." Dosu replied as he looked around the shop. "You have lovely flowers." he mused as he walked among the aisles dragging wrapped fingers along the buckets that contained them.

"Thank you. My father picks them in the fields not far from here." she managed to say with a tight voice.

"Your father. He is a ninja as well?" Dosu inquired. Ino knew what he was doing, he was trying to be nice, sweet talk her. She remembered her father telling her once to always get to know your enemy. Either get to know them through others via investigation or do what the Yamanaka did best and play mind games. That was what Dosu was doing, he was trying to make himself seem more likable, less deadly than he really was. Charm her into letting her guard down before slitting her throat. _It__'__s a shame I remember our last interaction so well. I bet that if you had better posture and a cute face under those bandages you might get a shot._

"Yes." Ino replied tightly.

He chuckled. "Like father, like daughter. Was your mother a ninja as well?"

"No she was a civilian." Ino said.

"Was?" Dosu inquired.

"What about you?" she asked quickly changing the topic.

"I come from a long line of sound affiliated ninja. How else do you think I would have managed to get this device on my arm." Dosu inquired.

Ino nodded. "Interesting." she replied.

Dosu had finished his patrol up and down the aisles and was now standing before the counter looking at her through his one visible eye. _You know, I used to think that was hot with Kakashi-sensai and all__…__but on this guy it__'__s just a bit creepy_.

"I'll cut right to the chase here, princess. I want to fight the Uchiha and you are in my way." he said.

Ino narrowed her eyes. "Sorry to disappoint you. Looks like you are going to have to get past me to get at Sasuke-kun." she replied slightly proud that she was protecting Sasuke.

"Because I think you are cute, I will tell you. Drop out." he dead panned.

Ino held in a groan. _Why the hell does everyone what me to drop out?!_

"Or I could always kill you." Dosu said nonchalantly giving her a smile.

Ino's body tensed then. She was training to fight this guy that was true, but was she ready? She wasn't sure how confident she was now that he was standing right in front of her. The fur jacket he wore as well as his bad posture made him look like some twisted monster that could be found in the mountains in the Land of Snow. His black eye narrowed as he peered down at her.

"Well?" he asked.

"Why not wait? We are fighting in a few days." Ino managed to say casually.

"Because I shouldn't have to waste chakara on a weakling like you." he replied simply.

Ino's mind was racing, she thought about the new techniques that her father had been teaching her. Could she do it? She hadn't really tried yet, sure she knew it in theory. _Well no better time than _now. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she quickly wove the three simple hand signs beneath the counter. She opened them again and almost gasped for joy when she saw the entire human brain visible through Dosu's skull. _Is this what Hinata and Neji see?_ She tried to keep her mind on the conversation and while she looked through his mind trying to find any part of the brain that she could send a message to.

"Well if I am so weak. Why does it matter?" she asked, she was stalling.

"I told you. Regardless it would be a waste of my time and energy. So Yamanaka what's it going to be?" he asked again.

_Leave. You have something else to do_. She mentally spoke.

Dosu looked at her. "Did you say something?" he asked.

Ino shook her head before repeating the thought _You just remembered you have something to do._

_ "_I am not going to drop out." she managed to speak before quickly adding an after thought _You don__'__t have time to kill me._

She noticed him hesitate for a second. "Let's make this quick, Yamanaka. I have things to do."

_Shit. _Ino thought to herself. She quickly reworded her thoughts, pressing even harder _She isn__'__t worth your time. You are too busy to kill her right now. It__'__s too messy._

"Then I guess that I am just going to have to" he paused as Ino sent him another message.

"The battles are in a few weeks. Can you not wait?" Shikamaru asked. Ino jumped she didn't even hear the door open.

Dosu gave a sarcastic laugh. "Caught in your shadow again, am I?" he asked.

Ino drew a kunai. "Only this time you are alone. Shikamaru can hold you as long as I need."

Dosu narrowed his eyes at her "I'm just going to leave you with a warning doll face, I will meet you in that stadium, and that pretty face of yours is going to be the first thing that I cut up."

She tightened her grip on her kunai. "Shikamaru let him go. Dosu just walk away. I will see you in the stadium."

She saw Shikamaru's hesitation. "My dad will kill me if we get in a fight in the flower shop. Let him go. He's leaving."

Shikamaru sighed and released the jutzu. Dosu glared at them both before walking out the door. It was only then that Ino allowed herself to collapse on the counter both in relief and exhaustion.

"Ino? I told you. You can't handle that guy." he said as he put a hand on her shoulder.

Ino laughed then. "But I can. Because I can see his mind now." she replied.

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow. "What?"

"This new jutsu I am working on. It's essentially a hypnosis, I am still in my body and his mind is open to suggestion." she explained.

"It didn't look too open." Shikamaru replied.

"I almost had him. If you hadn't interrupted I might have been able to do it!" she cried out angrily.

"Or you could have been killed!" Shikamaru shot back.

Ino glared at the boy before her. "Now we will never know! I had him Shikamaru, he was already starting to question why he was here!" she all but cried out.

"Why was he here, Ino?" Shikamaru demanded.

"I have a lot of work to do."

"Why was he here?"

"The same reason you are here." Ino replied.

"To tell you that my mom wants you to come over for dinner tonight since you are by yourself?" he asked.

Ino shot him a glare.

"He wants you to drop out as well. Why?"

"He wants to fight Sasuke." Ino muttered crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ino. That guy could probably defeat Sasuke." Shikamaru replied.

"I graduated higher up at the academy than Sasuke." Ino pointed out.

"But you are not as strong as Sasuke."

"I will be by the time this match happens."

"Why are you so damn difficult!" Shikamaru yelled.

Ino jumped back. Shikamaru got irritated with her, but he had never yelled at her. That took way too much effort on his part. Ino glared at him.

"Get out." she replied.

"Ino, I…" he started.

"Get out, Shika. Tell your mother that I have to decline her invitation."

Shikamaru opened his mouth as if he wanted to reply but instead just turned and walked out the door muttering something about troublesome women along the way._ How could she be so stupid? She knows how strong that guy is._

After work that day, Ino all but ran to the training grounds to get some training in. Her mind was still racing after her interaction with Dosu and Shikamaru. She sighed after finishing her ab workout and decided to try Hinata's exercises. Maybe some of the yoga would help her thoughts. She took a few deep breaths and began the sequence that Hinata had taught her. She held each pose for fifteen long and deep breaths. Each second pushing herself a tiny bit more into the stance. Hinata had told her that she needed to clear her mind and let her gaze travel into infinity. That seemed impossible to the blonde, in fact she wasn't sure if she could be silent for more than two minutes. But to her surprise her buzzing thoughts began to slow down, her fear of Dosu quelling and Shikamaru's screams died down to his lazy droll once again. She was sure that she had almost reached that state when a voice broke her thoughts.

"What are you doing, Yamanaka?"

Ino opened her eyes and moved out of the warrior pose and back to a standing position. "Well I was trying to do a yoga sequence until someone interrupted me." Ino stated, just because her mind was at ease a few seconds ago, didn't mean that she wasn't still irritated with the events before. And now that Neji had interrupted her lack of thoughts, he also brought her angry ones back.

"That is a sequence the Hyuuga clan uses. How did you learn it?" Neji demanded.

"I was taught." Ino replied simply. When Hinata had first taught her the moves, she made sure to clarify with Ino time and time again that even though these were the moves that the Hyuuga used with their most basic training, it was a sequence that many practitioners of yoga also preformed. "Ashtanga is a sequence that is practiced widely, Hyuuga. Not only your clan uses it."

"Hinata." Neji said his cousin's name bitterly.

"Taught me a sequence that any experienced or master yogi would know." Ino clarified, she was pissed to say the least. From the icy look in his pearlescent eyes, Ino could tell that he felt the same.

"Why is my cousin wasting her time with you?" Neji demanded.

"Because unlike you, she actually gives a damn about others." Ino replied crossing her arms over her chest.

Neji narrowed his pearly eyes. "Don't test me Yamanaka." he said.

"Or what? You will kill me like you tried to do to you cousin?" Ino demanded. _Gods damn me and my fucking big mouth_. She thought to herself when she saw Neji's byukagan activate.

"Don't tempt me, Yamanaka. I warned you last week." he growled.

Ino rolled her sapphire eyes. "Is that a challenge?" she demanded.

Neji smirked and Ino found herself sliding into a fighting stance.

"Ino. Neji." a voice barked from behind.

Both genin turned to see Gai and Asuma standing before them, Guy with his hands on his hips and Asuma with his omnipresent cigarette smoking between his lips. "Both of you. Save your skills and energy for the battle." Asuma stated.

Neji's eyes returned to their normal state and Ino relaxed, arms once again crossed and eyes narrowed.

"She is wasting her time. Once a weakling always a weakling." Neji said closing his eyes.

"Why you little." Ino growled before beginning to charge towards Neji.

Asuma caught her. "Woah, woah, woah, feisty. Control that temper of yours."

Neji smirked. _Her emotions get in the way. All I have to do is get her worked up. She will get a team killed with those emotions of hers._

"Go home, Ino." Asuma said to her.

"But Asuma-sensai." Ino began.

"You heard me, come on." he said leading her away from the training grounds.

"You know she graduated top in her class, right?" Gai inquired.

Neji narrowed his eyes. "I didn't think this year's batch was so weak. She almost lost to Sakura, who didn't graduate that high on the roster. She is on a team with that Nara boy who almost failed."

"And yet those two both made it to the final examination. Don't underestimate your enemies. You are aware of what the Yamanaka Clan is capable of right?" Gai asked.

_Fucking with your head. _"Possessing your body." Neji replied simply.

Gai chuckled. "If only it were that simple. Have you ever wondered how Konoha manages to extract the information out of every single enemy?"

"Ibiki." Neji replied simply.

Gai shook his head. "A Yamanaka. Ino's father to be more precise."

Neji looked at his teacher.

"The Yamanaka can manipulate the human mind. They can make you believe almost anything. Their mind tricks are like a genjutsu that you can't escape from. A skilled mind walker like Inochi can communicate telepathically, take over the minds of humans and animals alike, and make people believe almost anything."

_That pathetic girl is the daughter of Inochi Yamanaka. She is capable of doing all that, why the hell did she almost loose to Sakura_.

"Then why is she so weak?" Neji demanded.

"Ino doesn't have her priorities straight yet. She worries about other things than being a kunochi, although from what Asuma has been telling me, she has been training harder. Almost loosing to Sakura really shook her up."

Neji sighed. "And you are wasting my time telling me this because?"

Gai also sighed. Neji was a genius there was no doubt, but he was a hardheaded and proud genius. Something that Gai himself couldn't stand. Almost like Kakashi only less lazy and definitely not modest.

"All I am saying Neji, is don't judge a book by it's cover. It is true that the Yamanaka girl is a pretty face and prideful. However, she is capable of great things and she might just surprise you."

Neji rolled his eyes. _And I will loose to the dobe, Naruto._


	10. Day 9

Her run in with Dosu left Ino still shaking the next day. He had a killer intent that he didn't originally have when she and the rest of her team had encountered them. Sure he and his teammates had been beating the shit out of Sakura, but that was a different story. That was child's play compared to what she felt. He was sketchy to begin with and smart for figuring the Ino-Shika-Cho formation so quickly, but the feeling that he gave her when he was in the Flower Shop had a lot more anger to it.

She sighed and rested her forehead against the counter of the Flower Shop. She hadn't wanted to come into work today. She was bit nervous about the Sound Nin coming back. She even considered calling Shikamaru. But her pride got in the way almost immediately. So here she was, back in the flower shop, once again studying the scrolls and sketches that were scattered about the counter. It was pouring down rain outside and Ino almost considered not opening the shop, instead she propped open the windows and the door and allowed the sound of the rain and the scent of flowers to surround her while she continued to study.

A butterfly had fluttered into the building shortly after the rain started, its translucent wings too fragile to handle the pressure of rain drops. She gazed at the insect as it flew lazy circles around the shop before finally landing on an iris. A thought popped into Ino's head and she focused on the butterfly, she narrowed her eyes trying to get a better view of the tiny creature and the simple brain structure. The brain of the butterfly was much simpler than that of a human, and she quickly wove her way through the neurons until she planted a single idea into its mind. _Fly to the roses_.

At first the small creature didn't move. She tried again, pushing the link between their minds a little harder. This time sending him a mental image of a rose. The scroll she had been reading suggested using some type of stimuli. Visual images were the best.

_Fly to the roses_.

The wings of the butterfly moved slowly as if the creature were considering the idea. _Probably considering why the hell it wants to fly to the stupid roses when it is perfectly happy on the Iris_. She thought to herself, hoping that the butterfly didn't hear those thoughts. She pushed again, showing it the image and this time saying the words out loud "Fly to the roses."

The wings fluttered and the butterfly lifted itself from the iris before it glided over to the display of roses and landed on a white one.

_ Holy shit I did it._ Ino thought to herself before laughing and letting out a very unladylike "Hell yeah!"

"Is work that slow that you are excited to have me come in?" Sakura asked as she stepped through the doorway.

"No Forehead. I was busy testing a new jutzu." Ino replied simply.

"On what?" Sakura inquired.

"The butterfly." Ino said just as simply.

Sakura laughed. "The butterfly? What were you doing discussing flowers to eat?" she asked.

Ino rolled her pretty eyes. "Anyways. What can I do for you?" she asked.

"I need a flower for Lee."

Ino nodded sadly and walked to the back of the room. "How is he doing? Do you want another daffodil?" she inquired.

"Hai. He is still in the hospital, his training keeps slowing down his healing progress." Sakura replied softly.

Ino nodded and plucked the daffodil from the bucket, wrapped it in the cellophane wrapping. "Here you go." she said after ringing it up.

"Thanks." Sakura replied.

Ino nodded.

"How is training going?" Sakura asked.

Ino smiled. "It is going well, I am learning some new techniques." she replied.

Sakura nodded.

"How are you?" Ino asked.

"I am worried about Sasuke." Sakura answered.

Ino nodded. She hadn't bothered to tell Sakura about her little interaction with the Uchiha boy. She decided to keep that her own little secret. All it would do was make he demand to know where he went. Ino had no idea where he was going, although she assumed it was to train with Kakashi sensai who hadn't been around the flower shop in a while. Kakashi tended to come to the flower shop once a week to buy flowers from what he assumed was a fallen comrade.

"I know." Ino replied.

Neji paused when he saw Ino and Shikamaru sitting across from one another at training ground three. He was about to keep walking when he heard the kunochi speak in her flirty voice.

"Ready?"

Shikamaru groaned. "Troublesome."

Ino chuckled. "Way to sound like a supportive teammate." she replied.

Shikamaru sighed and scratched his head. "You dragged me away before dinner." Shikamaru complained.

"Oh, I'm sorry Chouji." she muttered.

Shikamaru continued scratching his head rather violently and Neji couldn't help but wonder if the Nara boy had fleas. Although it really wouldn't surprise him with how lazy the boy was. He wondered how frequently Shikamaru actually showered.

"Have you done anything?" Shikamaru demanded.

Ino smirked.

Understanding dawned on Shikamaru's face. "My head really isn't itchy is it." he stated.

Ino smiled.

Neji's eyes widened. Ino was able to use hypnosis now? Not to mention the fact that she was using the technique was almost undetectable. She managed to hold a conversation, although a broken one, with the Nara boy while she probed through his mind effortlessly. Sure she had only managed to hold the technique for about twenty seconds, but that was definitely long enough during a battle. He couldn't help but wonder how long exactly she could hold the jutsu, Shikamaru was intelligent. He wondered how long she could hold it against someone like Dead-Last Naruto. Maybe he was underestimating her, then again he highly doubted she could last past the first round. He turned and walked away heading back to the Hyuuga training grounds.

Shikamaru sighed and looked up at Ino. That was a hell of an experience. All that he felt was just an urge to itch his head, just a mental thought that his head itched. His mind was open to the suggestion of his head being itchy that was it. He didn't even notice Ino using hand signs to make the jutzu work, she was simply talking to him. As if she was multitasking- flipping through a magazine while he was talking to her and replying although in broken sentences.

"Do it again." he demanded.

Ino smiled "Hai."

He stood before the girl and watched. She didn't do anything instead she simply looked at him and stood up. He suddenly wanted to stand up with her, match her in height and in motion. It was strange having her tower over him like that. _Odd that has never bothered me before _he thought. He continued to sit and he felt the urge even more as she took a couple of steps towards him. He stood up then. He suddenly realized that she was in his mind again. It had taken seconds, and he wanted to do what she silently asked. He felt another probe in his mind, a desire to raise his left arm. He shoved the thought away and chuckled. "Good try, Ino."

She pouted. "You fell for it the first time."

"But I broke it quickly." he replied.

Ino sighed.

"How are you planning to use it? Make him think that his head itches, distract him with a bodily function?" he asked.

"No I am going to try to make him think that he is out of chakara or that the hellish contraption on his arm is broken."

"Try?" he demanded.

"Yes. I should be able to do it."

"Ino, I fell for it, but I still managed to break out of it." Shikamaru stated.

"I don't need it to last for that long, those twenty seconds that you were under it would have been ample time." Ino shot back.

"We weren't in battle, Ino! If we had been in a battle I would have just ignored that itching regardless of how irritating it is."

"And I would have made you think that something worse was happening to you!" she shot back.

Shikamaru let out a frustrated sigh. "Why are you so gods damn difficult!" he turned away from her only to turn back a second later. "You can't beat this guy."

"Teammates are supposed to support each other. Look at our parents! Team Ino-Shika-Cho! They have been together and supporting and helping each other since they were our age! Why can't we do that?" she demanded.

"Because our fathers aren't being irrational and thinking that they can do something that they obviously can't." Shikamaru shot back. "Our fathers would be listening to each other!"

Ino turned and walked away.

Shikamaru hesitated following the beautiful blond kunochi before thinking against it and instead falling to the ground on his back staring at the clouds as they floated by "My old dreams are flying in the wind. It's a mild and soft afternoon" he said the quote that was written on a journal that Ino had give him for his birthday one year. She thought that if he was so smart that he would want to write down his ideas. He scoffed _Too bad I am too lazy to pick up a pencil_.

Ino found herself walking to the academy and sitting on the swing. The academy had been her castle. She was the queen of the academy. She was popular and the smartest girl at the school. She had graduated top of her class and look at her now. She was pretty positive that the only reason that Team 10 had made it through the Forest of Death was because of Shikamaru's intellect. The only reason that she beat Sakura was because she was just too stubborn. When Sakura broke out of her jutzu, Ino was shocked. She didn't know that it could happen. If that idiot Naruto hadn't screamed then she would have won. No one believed in her. Shikamaru told her to drop out daily. Neji a complete stranger had been telling her to drop out since the beginning. Everyone who looked at her made an assumption that she was probably going to fail, or worse get killed. "Maybe Dosu is right, I am nothing more than a pretty face." She muttered to herself as she slowly pushing herself on the swing with the tips of her toes.

"Ino?" someone asked. She looked up to see Iruka-sensai standing before her. A mixture of concern and happiness on his face. _Strange how such different emotions can appear on someone__'__s face_. she thought to herself.

She quickly brushed her hand over her face, trying to get rid of the tears on her face.

"Ino?" he asked kneeling before her.

"I'm alright." she lied.

"Ino. What's happening?" he asked.

She looked up into her old teacher's warm melted chocolate eyes and saw nothing but concern. Finally she let it all out. Telling him everything from the first day of the chunin exams when she aced the test and possessed Shikmaru's body to make sure that he actually took the time to write down the answers, and wrote down all the correct answers for Chouji after memorizing Sakura's answers. How Shikamaru was the only reason that they made it through the second exam. How she was almost defeated by Sakura. How no one thought that she would ever be able to defeat Dosu.

Iruka remained silent the entire time, staring at the blond beauty before him. Ino had grown up. It had only been ten days but she had already grown up. He placed his fingers beneath her chin and forced her to look up at him. She had tear stains on her face but they had ceased falling. He placed both hands on her bony shoulders and spoke softly. "Prove them wrong, Ino. You have so much potential." he said.

"I am trying, but sometimes it's so hard." she replied.

"I know. I'm going to tell you something. I was like Naruto, a dead last. No one believed in me. It took me three years to graduate from the academy, no one thought that I could do it."

"How did you manage to get past it?" she asked.

"I told myself every night that I was going to do it. That I was going to prove them wrong. Ino you graduated top in your class, something that not many kunochi can say. You are determined and talented. With a bit more taijutzu training you have potential to do some great things." Iruka said.

Ino found herself blushing, she had never been complimented so much and she had always had a slight crush on her chunnin teacher.

"Thank you. Iruka sensai." she replied softly.

Iruka gave her a slight smile and removed his hands from her shoulders. "Keep your chin up, Ino. Pretty girls shouldn't cry." he said with a chuckle.

Ino blushed again, but laughed as well as her former teacher's way of cheering her up. "You are awesome, Iruka sensai." she said with a smile. "Thank you." she and Iruka stood up.

"I need to go. I have to cook supper for dad and I. I will see you around." she said with a smile and a wave. She hesitated a moment before placing a quick kiss on Iruka's cheek before running away. She felt like she was seven, running around and stealing kisses from the boys on the playground. She laughed to herself as she traveled by rooftop, Iruka had certainly lightened her mood. She stopped before her house to see that the lights were off. Either her father wasn't home yet or he was at the bar with Shikaku and Chouza again. She sighed and unlocked the door, slipping out of her shoes in the process.

A note on the kitchen counter confirmed her thoughts. Her father was at the bar. She sighed and walked up the stairs to her bedroom. She took a long shower, she was exhausted and she wanted nothing more than to just sit and watch a movie in her pajamas.

She was doing just that when there was a knock on the door. Confused she stood up and walked towards the door. Mentally preparing herself in case it was an attack. There was a kunai in the draw of the side table by the door and another in the kitchen. She opened the door to see Shikamaru standing on the doorstep, hands in his pockets.

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him with narrow eyes. "What?"

"Our dads are drunk again. The bartender called and said that we needed to take them home. Troublesome." he muttered.

Ino sighed. "Again?"

Shikamaru nodded. Ino stepped aside and allowed him to enter her home. "I need to change really fast, I will be right back." she said.

Shikamaru took in her appearance and found himself blushing slightly. She was wearing a lacy green tank top and a pair of matching shorts. From the looks of it she wasn't wearing a bra beneath the lace lined tank top. He waited patiently in the foyer of the Yamanaka household looked around the house once again. Their home was small and cozy, just down the street from the flower shop. The last time he had been in Ino's home was the night he and Chouji and Ino had graduated from the academy. It was to celebrate the fact that the Ino-Shika-Cho team had been made one again. Ino came back down the stairs wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. "Let's go." she said with a sigh as she slipped on a pair of flip flops and walked out the door.

Inochi was sitting with his two best friends and former teammates. The three members of the original Ino-Shika-Cho had been drinking sake since he got back from the mission, and that was about three hours ago. They were currently discussing their children. "At least you have a daughter, Inochi. Chouji is eating me out of the house." Chouza stated.

"Haha. I never know what she is thinking though. At least boys are easy to read." Inochi muttered. When Ino was born the day after Shikamaru, he had gotten a lot of grief from Shikaku and Chouza for having a girl instead of a boy.

"Oi. Dad." a voice said from behind.

Inochi turned to see Shikamaru and Ino standing slightly behind them. He smiled at his daughter. "Ino! Shikamaru! Join us for a drink."

Ino wrinkled her nose while Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Inochi sighed, leave it to him to have the daughter who didn't like sake, Ino liked wine.

"Come on dad, let's go home." Ino said gently, walking over to stand behind her father.

Shikaku laughed slightly. "Looks like Ino has become the woman of the house."

"Come on dad, you too. Mom wants you home too." Shikamaru said.

Inochi laughed loudly then. Shikaku's wife was known for her temper, and if she wanted something, Shikaku had damn well better do it or he would be sleeping with the deer that night.

"Dad, come on. You are drunk and it's your turn to work the flower shop tomorrow." Ino said placing her hands on her hips. Inochi sighed as he looked at his daughter. Ino looked more like him than she did her mother. They shared the same piercing blue eyes and long blond hair, as well as a short temper. Ino did however inherit her mother's flawless pale skin and eye for beautiful things. She also inherited her mother's habit of speaking before thinking and love of gossip.

Inochi rolled his eyes and stood up, wobbling slightly. Ino slung his arm around her slender shoulders and looked over a Shikamaru who was doing the same with his father. "I'll see you tomorrow." Ino replied staggering slightly under her father's weight.

"Are you alright? Can you make it home okay?" Shikamaru asked his daughter.

Ino smiled. "Yeah I got him."

Inochi smiled down at his daughter proudly. "That's my girl."

Ino groaned and rolled her eyes. "Let's go, dad."


	11. Day 10

Ino was panting hard as she stared across the training grounds at Shikamaru. Her hands were up in a defensive position and her knees were bent ready to leap out of the way at any given minute. Shikamaru charged at her and the two met in a hand to hand battle, punches and kicks flying at one another. Ino knew that between the two of them, she was the better fighter, but Shikamaru's powers of deduction were something to be reckoned with. She knew that at his very moment he was probably 10 steps ahead of her.

Shikamaru watched Ino's movements with narrowed eyes. Her punches were more controlled, her balance was better. He was hoping that he would be able to defeat her with that, by bounding into the trees and forcing her to walk on narrow branches, Ino did not have a good sense of balance. She was and earth user through and through, that and she had potential to master some water type jutzu. He continued to watch her as they fought trying to find something, anything that would be a weakness. He looked around before noticing the training matts and the exposed roots behind her. If he could drive her back…

Ino was surprised when Shikamaru's hits became harder and faster. _Since when did he care, about hard and fast hits? He is all about strategy. Not confrontation. _ She thought to herself as she was pushed back. Shikamaru continued to attack her and she blocked his hits the best she could as she staggered back. She was so preoccupied in dodging his attacks that she didn't notice the exposed tree roots behind her. She tripped and fell backwards, before she knew it Shikamaru was on top of her, straddling her waist as he pinned both her hands above her head. Ino struggled against his grasp, but stopped when she felt Shikamaru's fingers find the pressure points on her wrists.

Ino's sapphire eyes glared up at him as he pinned her to the ground. _Dear Kami, she is almost strong enough to knock me off._ Shikamaru thought to himself before sliding his fingers to the pressure point on her thin wrists. They were both breathing hard by the time she stopped struggling, and Shikamaru realized the position that they were in. He gazed down at Ino again and found himself slowly leaning down towards her. He noticed her eyes widen slightly and her full lips part, as she looked up at him puzzled. He stopped himself before he got too close and climbed off of her, a blush staining his cheeks.

"I win." he said simply.

Ino huffed and crossed her arms.

"You need to be more aware of your surroundings." he said simply.

Ino groaned and turned to walk away. "Whatever. See ya." she said not bothering to turn towards him.

"Asshole, pineapple headed genius." Ino muttered to herself as she walked through the training grounds. "You need to watch your surroundings." she mimicked his voice as she walked along. _He had better watch his gods damn surrounds._ She angrily ran a hand through her short blond hair. _Shit. I hate my hair _she thought to herself as she marched down the dusty roads of Konoha. She paused when she noticed the dango stand. "Damn I am hungry." she muttered. She mentally counted the calories in the dango and sighed.

"You know you are t-t-thin enough that y-you could probably afford to eat one d-d-dango." a voice said softly behind her.

Ino turned and smiled to see Hinata standing behind her. She giggled slightly. "Thanks Hinata, it's always nice to hear a compliment. I forgot my money at home, so looks like I will be making something." she trailed off making a mental check of the few items that resided in the refrigerator. She and her father were awful about buying groceries, with both of them either on missions or working at the flower shop they both typically decided to eat out as opposed to trying to scrounge up something to eat around the house.

"I-I c-can cover y-you this time." Hinata replied.

Ino smiled brightly at the Hyuuga heiress. "Really? Thank you Hinata!" Ino cried out with a smile.

Hinata smiled and nodded before leading the way into the dango shop. Ino watched as the pretty Hyuuga heiress looked around the small building as if looking for someone. When Hinata didn't see who she was looking for, she seemed a little disappointed, but she quickly hid it.

"Who are you looking for?" Ino asked.

"N-n- no one!" Hinata stuttered her face changing from its usual pale complexion to a lovely shade of red.

"Are you looking for Naruto?" Ino whispered as she nudged Hinata playfully.

Hinata's blush only darkened. "W-what?" she demanded trying to stay casual.

"It's okay, I won't tell anyone." Ino replied with a small laugh before sitting down at the bar and motioning for Hinata to sit beside her.

HInata sighed and sat next to Ino before ordering her meal, Ino followed suit.

"H-how is training g-going?" Hinata inquired breaking the silence. Ino was surprised that Hinata had been the one to initiate the conversation, the Hyuuga heiress was not a talkative girl. In fact, it was usually Ino who had to practically beat the words out of Hinata.

Ino groaned. "It's going. Shikamaru is driving me up the wall. He is such a cocky bastard and he is convinced that I am not going to survive the chunin exams." she complained.

Hinata looked at Ino with understanding eyes.

"I just wish that everyone would look at me as more than just a vain kunochi. I mean I admit that I do worry about my appearance, probably more than most kunochi…but I want to be able to do this." Ino confessed.

Hinata nodded once again. "That is why I wanted to become a ninja and join the chunin exams. I wanted to prove to everyone that I wasn't weak." Hinata replied.

Ino smiled at Hinata. "I think that you did that, during your fight against Neji. You just proved that you were shy, not weak."

Hinata blushed at the compliment and reverted to her habit of twirling her fingers together.

"Now all you need to do is work up the courage to talk to you know who." Ino giggled as their food was placed before them.

Hinata's blush only turned a deeper shade of red before she quickly began eating in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.

The two ate together and exchanged small talk with one another. Ino doing most of the talking while Hinata nodded politely and even managed to get a few words in between Ino's rants about the latest fashions and the most handsome ninja in Konoha.

"I mean Genma is definitely an attractive man" Ino was in the middle of her rant, she was currently counting down her list of who she thought were the sexiest shinobi in Konoha, she was currently on number 2. _Although I am considering rearranging my top three. After his peptalk, Iruka is looking pretty sexy. But Genma and that sebon needle could make him an excellent kisser__…__then there__'__s Kakashi. _She about to open her mouth to explain her thoughts when a cold voice spoke.

"Hinata-sama."

Ino jumped and looked behind her to see Neji Hyuuga with his arms crossed and his pearlescent eyes so like Hinata's but so different narrowed and staring at the two girls. Beside her, Ino felt Hinata's body tense and saw all of the color that was once in her face drain.

"N-N-Neji nisan." Hinata managed to stutter out.

"Come. It is time to go home." He said simply.

"But we just got here." Ino complained. She was about to open her mouth to say more before Neji's cold eyes landed on her.

"I was sent by Hiashi, taken away from my training and my own schedule to come and retrieve the heiress of this clan. The fact that you two just sat down to stuff your faces instead of training, especially you, Yamanaka is something that does not concern me."

Ino suddenly felt self conscious of the half eaten dango sitting before her. She felt bloated. Now it was her turn to glare at the Hyuuga boy.

"Ino, it's okay. I w-w-will see y-you s-soon." Hinata stuttered as she slid out of her chair.

"Why does she have to go?" Ino demanded as she too slid from her chair.

"Because Hiashi-sama has summoned her." Neji replied simply.

Ino rolled her eyes. "It's barely one o' clock and you are dragging her away? What is there some type of Hyuuga curfew?" she asked.

"Ino, please." Hinata said from beside her.

"The affairs of our clan have nothing to do with you, Yamanaka. If you had any common sense in that stubborn head of yours, you would stay out of it. And Hinata- sama." Neji turned his attention to the still shaking heiress "You need to find better friends. Someone like this weak kunochi will just hold you back." he stated.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Last time I checked, you and I both got into the same exam. We both took the written test, we both made it through the forest of death, and we both are now fighting in the final tournament. You are not so high and mighty." Ino stated as she walked up to the Hyuuga boy, she realized a hair too late that she was too close, easily within striking distance of the byukagan. _Damn I sound just like Shikamaru. And I am definitely too close._

"The difference is that I earned my place." Neji stated.

"And I didn't?" Ino demanded.

"Ino." Hinata said softly behind her, but Ino chose to ignore the girl.

"I saw you and your opponent. You almost lost the exam. And you are the top graduate of your class. Pathetic." Neji stated looking into her sapphire eyes.

Ino let out a sarcastic laugh. "And you did so much better? Hinata is no where near as strong as you. None of the rookies are, and yet you think that because you almost killed your own cousin that makes you better than me? If you had fought someone like Lee or those Sand genin maybe I would believe you." she said her hands on her hips.

Neji's byukagan instantly flared to life.

_Gods damn, I need to keep my fucking mouth shut._ Ino thought to herself as she quickly stepped back and out of Neji's reach. She watched as Neji raised his palms, but her view was partially blocked by a petite form that placed itself between her and him.

"C-come, N-Neji ni. I w-w-will accompany y-you home." Hinata said.

Neji chuckled before deactivating his byukagan. "Very well, Hinata-sama." He turned an amused glance at Ino, who had yet to shift out of her fighting stance. She really was beautiful with her eyes narrowed and the feeling of determination radiating off of her. She knew that she stood no chance against him, and yet she kept goading him on. He couldn't help but admire and scoff at her foolishness. With her temper and looks, she was the only kunochi who managed to break through his typically controlled demeanor. It irked him, and yet he couldn't help but egg her on.

Ino continued to glare at the other ninja as Hinata quickly gathered her things and giving Ino a slight wave quickly followed her cousin out the door.

Ino groaned and shoved her half eaten dango away from her.

She walked slowly home from the dango shop, thoughts of what a sexy asshole Neji was running through her head that she almost didn't see the figure standing before her home. She paused and narrowed her eyes trying to figure out who it was. Whoever it was had horrible posture and something on their back that made them look like a monster. Her eyes widened when she put two and two together. _Shit how the hell did he figure out where I live? Has he been tailing me this entire time? Has he seen me yet? _

Ino quickly ducked behind her neighbor's bushes and looked at the man who was waiting before her home. She took a deep calming breath and looked at the Dosu man. _Well this is my one shot._ She quickly began to weave the hand signs to attempt the hypnosis jutzu, she didn't have the time to waste to attempt to hold a conversation. Instantly the man's mind became visible, she watched the complex weavings of his neurons that were firing at a startling rate. She probed through his mind trying to figure out what he was thinking. She froze when she saw his thoughts. An image of her bloody body laying on the ground with him standing above.

_Shit. He is going to really try to kill me_.

She didn't bother trying to be subtle this time. She worked to change the image of herself into someone, anyone different from her. She changed the eye color of the bloody version of herself from sapphire blue to a dark brown color. The hair grew longer but instead was changed from platinum blond to black. Slowly the headband that was once worn around her waist was moved to the forehead and the insignia changed from that of a Konoha nin to that of a Sound Nin. She felt resistance from him as if he was trying to shake the image of Kin from his mind, obviously trying to figure out whey the hell the Yamanaka girl that he obviously wanted to kill was changing into his teammates. A girl that didn't even make it past the second round.

Ino shoved harder, not caring that she was wasting precious chakara. She just wanted him to go away. She fought against him keeping the image of his teammate present in his mind. The resistance slowly eased away. She felt sweat dripping down her brow as she continued to weave through his mind. _I just hope that he doesn__'__t turn around and kill his teammate_ she thought to herself as she planted the idea of just sparring with her in his mind instead of killing the sound kunochi.

She almost gasped when she saw him turn away and begin to walk down the street away from her home. She tensed, holding her breath and praying to whatever god would listen that her jutzu had worked and that he was really walking away. She watched as his shadow vanished and stayed in her hiding place. Her head felt heavy and she knew that her chakara was dangrously low from using it all to get the man to walk away. Slowly she felt her body lower itself to the ground and her eyes drift closed.

"Ino?" a voice asked. She opened her eyes slowly, she was still laying in the bushes. The outline of a pineapple was above her.

"Shikamaru?" she asked.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing." Ino lied.

"Nothing caused you to pass out in my front yard?" he asked.

Ino blushed, and was suddenly thankful for the darkness. "Yeah, well you know." she said using the worst lie she had ever heard. She felt like Hinata.

"Ino. What happened?" Shikamaru demanded softly.

Ino remained silent. "I just over did it, okay." Ino replied.

"You're shaking." he said gently.

Ino sighed and yanked her hand from his grasp before climbing to her feet. "I have to get home, Shika." she replied. _There is no way in hell that I am telling Shikamaru about that. He will only think that I am too weak to fight against Dosu. That or even worse he will get someone else involved. Things like this happen all the time._ she thought to herself as she looked at her friend.

"Thanks, Shika. I'm going to head home." she replied tiredly.

"Ino" he began but she cut him off.

"It's fine. I'm fine. Don't worry." she said simply before turning and walking to her home. She managed to keep her pace slow and normal, feeling Shikamaru's eyes on her the entire time. She inserted her key into the lock and opened the door.

As soon as the door slammed shut, she slid to the ground and cried.


	12. Day 11

Neji dreamed of Yamanaka Ino the night he saw her at the dango shop with Hinata. The two of them were sparring in the training grounds, his byukagan was activated, watching her every movement. She was still on the weak side but had certainly improved. The fact that he had to activate his byukagan attested to that. Her movements were fast, but not fast enough for the byukagan. He had her pinned against a tree in a heartbeat, suddenly the Ino he had pinned vanished in a puff of smoke. _Why the hell did my byukagan not notice? _He thought to himself. It was because of his byukagan that he managed to dodge her attack that came from behind him. S_hit Ino__'__s in my mind_. Things had just gotten more interesting. He wracked his brain trying to remember how Shikamaru managed to break out of her jutzu. Instead her focused on something anything, trying to block her mind. He felt her probe his mind, trying to get him to believe the images that she was throwing at him. He shoved them away before he could give into the images that she placed in his mind. From the look of frustration, he had succeeded.

She switched tactics and began fighting with taijutzu. She was fighting hard and fast, sweat causing her body to shine, and her hair was not short in this dream, but instead long the way it used to be as it whipped back and forth a silver blond curtain. He managed to land hits on her body, rendering her chakara useless. She stepped back with a wince gripping her left shoulder where he had just blocked her chakara. He took the opportunity and faster than she could react, had her in his grasp, one arm wrapped around her almost too thin waist and the other around her neck, holding her back effectively against his body. Her hands grasped his forearm, as if she could yank his arm from her neck. "I win." he whispered in her ear. He felt an involuntary shiver run through her body as his breath tickled her ear and he inhaled her floral scent. "Let go." she gasped.

Instead Neji flipped her around so that she was facing him, pinning her arms to her sides. A flush appeared on her face at the close contact, despite the glare that was burning into his own narrowed eyes. He took a breath and then shoved his lips against hers harshly. Her heard her sharp intake of breath at his movement. She struggled in his grasp, but when he dropped his grasp from around her arms, pulling her even closer, she gave in. When she started to kiss him back, his eyes jerked open and he sat up quickly in bed. "Dear gods no." he said to himself.

Ino panted heavily as she continued her run throughout the village. She had been at it for over two hours, but she knew that if she wanted to get the last few miles done she would need to keep going. _Gods I hate running _had been her mantra for the past 20 minutes. To say that she was tired would be the understatement of the year. After her too close encounter with Dosu the night before, she hadn't been able to sleep. Instead she remained curled in a ball beneath her blankets with the light on and a kunai held tightly within her grasp. The few hours of sleep she did get were plagued with images of the bloody bodies of herself and Kin stacking on top of one another like photographs being strewn across her mind. Despite her obvious dislike for the Sound kunochi, Ino did not want the girl to be killed. In fact, the reason why she was making this run so long and tedious was because she wanted to see if she could at least catch a glance of the black haired girl, to relieve her guilty conscious. _I am a kunochi, it is either kill or be killed. Her team would have killed Shikamaru, Chouji and I if Sasuke had not intervened. _Her troubled mind tried to get herself to understand. _But I can__'__t have Dosu kill an innocent girl. And his teammate on top of it._ Ino's conscious said to her. _And Dosu doesn__'__t care about her, he didn__'__t hesitate to attack his teammate in order to attempt to get Ino out of her mind_. _Damn_.

Ino sighed and finally came to a stop, panting. She raised her hands and rested them on the back of her head, trying to get more air into her lungs.

"Hey Ino." a voice said behind her.

Ino immediately straightened, instantly recognizing a maroon haired kunochi walking towards her, Anko. When Ino had seen the jonin during the chunnin exams, it took all she could to pretend that she didn't know the kunochi. Ino had spent the past three years looking up to Anko. Anko had been to her home many times, after all when she wasn't on missions the hyperactive kunochi tended to help out with torture and interrogation, where she worked closely with Ino's father.

"Anko!" she called out with a smile as she waved happily.

"Training for the exams i see." Anko said taking in Ino's sweaty appearance, stubby ponytail falling from its confines. Ino's body covered in sweat as she wore a pair of shorts and a tight fitting tank top.

"Yeah. Just finished running way too far." Ino replied.

Anko laughed. "Well then let me treat you to some dango."

Ino laughed. "I just had that yesterday!" she exclaimed.

Anko smirked. "All the more reason to have more. You can never have too much dango."

Ino shrugged and followed the older woman to luckily a different dango stand where the two proceeded to place their orders. Ino looked at the other woman before a thought popped into her head. _Gods Damn! Anko was one of the proctors! She would know where Kin is. Gods I am an idiot._ She turned her attention to Anko who was in the middle of biting a piece of dango.

"Hey Anko." Ino said.

"Hmmm?" Anko asked her mouth full of dango.

"That sound kunochi, Kin. Where is she? Did she go home?" Ino asked.

"Why?" Anko asked suspisciously.

"I was just curious." Ino replied taking a small bite of her dango.

"All ninja who did not pass the second round have been sent home." Anko replied.

Ino let out a breath she didn't realize that she had been holding. The sound kunochi was safe at least for now. Although in the back of her mind, Ino knew that the kunochi really might be killed by Dosu's blood lust when he returned to the Sound Village, but there wasn't much Ino would do about that now. Relived she allowed herself to indulge in the three sticks of dango that Anko had made her order. She looked enviously at Anko's five sticks, but after mentally counting calories, decided that three was more than enough.

"How is training going?" Anko inquired, breaking Ino's train of thought.

"It's going. Dad is going to teach me a new technique today." she replied.

"Not going to lie Ino, your dad scares the hell out of me with his techniques. I would hate to be interrogated by him. Rumor has it that when he first started out, he gave more than a few ninja a brain hemorage. And during the war, along with the other Yamanakas he managed to take out and entire squadron.

ino chuckled. _That__'__s true. He has also made 20 ninja kill one another, and was a key to relaying messages to the other units telepathically during the war._ Ino thought to herself. Remembering the stories that she had heard Shikaku and Chouza telling one another.

The two finished their dango, catching up on the small talk of the village. Anko looked at the kunochi in training. It was no wonder that Ino knew anything and everything about the village. She was charismatic, charming, and would eventually become the most beautiful kunochi in the village. She was already beginning to grow into her looks, sapphire eyes glinting in a misceviously, dazzling smile. _This girl is going to be the best spy Konoha has to offer._ Anko more than once found herself almost falling for Ino's charm.

"I have to go back to work, I will see you soon!" Anko exclaimed standing up and stretching her curvy body.

Ino stood up as well. "Good to see you, Anko. I will see you soon!" Ino said cheerfully before she started walking home.

Inochi met his daughter in what could only be described as a trampled training ground full of boulders and holes. What looked like a rock climbing wall was in the far right corner. He sincerely hoped that Ino would be able to preform these techniques. These were not exactly easy jutzu, but with her affinity for earth based techiniques he figured that she might just be able to figure out the _Earth Release: Boulder shield. _"Hi daddy!" he heard his daughter call out as she walked onto the training ground.

"Ino, tell me what you have read about this jutzu." Inochi quizzed leading his daughter to a boulder and sitting down beside her.

"This jutzu will allow the user to create what can only be described as a rock wall around themselves to protect them from attacks." Ino explained.

"Good. Do you know the hand signs?" he asked.

Ino paused to think and then nodded. "I think so."

"That are they?" Inochi quizzed.

"Horse. Rabbit. Pig. Rabbit. Horse. Tiger. Snake." Ino replied.

"Tiger. Rabbit. Horse. Rabbit. Snake. Tiger. Snake." Inochi corrected.

Ino deflated.

"It is a complex jutzu. Here let's go through the signs together."

And so father and daughter sat together atop the boulder and went through the handsigns over and over again until Inochi was confident that his daughter could not only do the hand signs but could also do them with her eyes closed. "Ready?" Inochi asked.

"I think so." Ino said.

"OK watch me. Channel your chakara to your feet and hands. Then preform the signs and raise your arms up slowly as if you are pulling the stone from the ground. Which is exactly what you will be doing."Inochi described. He then demonstrated jutzu, he preformed the hand signs and after stomping his foot against the ground used his arms to pull the early into a wall his height.

"Wow." he heard his daughter exclaim.

Inochi stepped from behind the wall and smiled at his daughter. "Got it?" he asked.

"Only one way to find out." Ino replied. Inochi watched as she flawlessly weaved through the hand signs. She closed her eyes and slammed her foot against the ground before yanking her hands up in an upward motion. She opened them to see a small mound about the height of her ankles appeared.

"Damn it." she whispered.

Inochi let out a laugh. "That just means that you need to keep practicing."

Ino released a groan, then wove through the hand signs again.

As the sun began to set, Ino was laying on the ground, her slender body covered in dirt and mud, a few bloody parts on her toes and fingers, but overall she was fine. She had managed to get the pieces of earth to reach her mid-shin. _But that__'__s not good enough, you won__'__t be able to hide behind that. Unless I manage to drop on my stomach, but if he gets around it will take too long for me to get back on my feet._

She groaned and rolled back to her feet. She began to weave through her hand signs and tried again.


	13. Day 12

Shikamaru stared at the blonde kunochi before him. Ino looked _different_. She didn't look like the vain kunochi that she usually was, in fact she looked more like a real kunochi, like Anko or even Tenten. Her short blond hair pulled back in almost comical looking stubby pigtails. Her usually perfectly manicured fingernails were uneven and broken while toenails remained unpolished. A few scrapes graced her typically flawless skin, almost like she was a small child who fell off her bike and had road rash.

"Ino you look different." Chouji said, stating the fact that Shikamaru was thinking.

Shikamaru noticed that she didn't flinch, nor did she break eye contact with him as she replied. "Different, how?"

"You just look…I don't know more like a kunochi." Chouji stated.

"I have always been a kunochi, fatso." she replied. Shikamaru could hear the slightly irritated tone. He knew that Ino took his opinion that she shouldn't compete in the chunin exams to heart. He knew that she was training her ass off. He sighed s_he has so much potential but she isn__'__t at that level yet. The Dosu guy could easily kill her._

_ "_Okay you three, let's get started." Asuma said lighting a cigarette.

The three members of Team 10 stopped talking and turned to their jounin sensai. "What's happening today?" Chouji inquired.

"Target practice." Asuma said simply.

Shikamaru and Chouji let out a groan while Ino smiled. _It__'__s about time I got some more target practice in. I haven__'__t really focused on this since Neji commented on my skills_.

"Okay, let's do it." Ino said.

Asuma smiled and lightly tugged one of Ino's pigtails affectionately. "That's my girl."

_I have the best aim out of the three of us. Shikamaru has the worst, because let__'__s face it he doesn__'__t really give a shit. Chouji isn__'__t too bad._ Ino thought to herself as she and her two teammates lined up across from the targets, kunai in hand.

Ino let weapon after weapon fly, all of them hitting the target, all of them within at two rings or less of the center. Out of the twenty that she threw at least ten of them were embedded within the center. _Looks like I have improved at least a little bit at least_. She thought to herself as she mentally counted all of her weapons and where they all landed. At the academy she was the top female when it came to target practice, although she knew that she was no where nearly as talented as Tenten when it came to weapons. _Maybe I should ask her for a few pointers__…__then again she is too busy training that pompous Hyuuga._

She glanced at Shikamaru's targets and found herself smirking. Her aim was certainly better than his and she was beyond thrilled that she had at least defeated him at one thing since they had started training together, if there was one thing that Ino hated more than anything it was to loose. And she had been doing that a lot lately.

She looked over at Chouji's targets next, _he isn__'__t too bad to be honest_. _If he would practice a little bit more he would be able to hit a majority of the targets no problem._ Then she noticed something a bit more surprising, she narrowed her eyes to get a better look at the targets. Where her kunai had landed with a satisfying thunk against the targets, embedded about a third of the way in like they were supposed to be, Chouji's weapons were stuck in the target at least half of the way. _Holy shit, it doesn__'__t matter if Chouji doesn__'__t hit someone in a fatal location, he throws with so much power that he could probably shatter a bone. If he hit someone in the leg he would be set._ "Holy shit Chouji." she exclaimed as she voiced her thoughts.

"What?" Chouji demanded.

Ino double checked to make sure that Shikamaru had finished throwing his weapons before grabbing her teammates arm and leading him to the targets. She first showed him her and Shikamaru's weapons. "See how our kunais are only one-third of the way within the target?" Chouji nodded.

"Well yours are about half way within. Your aim could use a little work, but holy shit you could definitely break a bone, and take a good chunk out of someone." Ino said.

Chouji beamed proudly. "Wow." he said to himself obviously proud of his new found strength.

"Not bad you three." Asuma said inspecting the progress of his team. The three smiled.

"Now drop and give me fifty." Asuma demanded. The three members of team ten looked at one another before letting out dramatic sighs and beginning what would only be a long and tedious day of pushups, pull ups, hand stands, weight lifting, and of course more push ups.

Ino sighed as she sat, her back against the wall her father had made yesterday in the Yamanaka training ground, glaring at the knee high rock wall that she had made. She had been at it for four hours _Why the hell can I not get this?_ she demanded to herself. There were small mounds of earth scattered about the training ground, each one of them a failure in her eyes. She sighed and leaned her head back against the wall.

"Still struggling?" Inochi asked as he walked up to his daughter.

"Yep." Ino replied curtly.

"You'll get it, sweetheart just keep trying." Inochi encouraged.

"Dad, the chunin exams are only two weeks away, I have so much training to do, and I can't just waste my time trying to make stupid rock walls. I have always picked up things so far, I just don't understand why I am having so much trouble." Ino complained.

"Sometimes struggle is good for us. Keep trying." The head of the Yamanaka clan said simply.

Ino rolled her eyes causing her dad to chuckle lightly.

"I have a mission tomorrow."

Ino perked up. "How long?"

"No more than four days. I'll be home as soon as possible, it's just a ridiculously long journey to the Land of Snow. Obviously not exactly a close trip." Inochi explained.

Ino hated it when her father left for long periods of time. She had always grown up with it, with him as a ninja. He was the reason she became a ninja. However, Ino still felt a slight twinge of fear, loosing her mother had been bad enough, she wasn't sure what she would do if she lost her father as well.

"I'll be fine, Ino. Come on, take a break. We can have dinner and you can stay here all night if you want to." he joked.

Ino sighed but allowed her father to pull her to her feet. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"How about Ichiruki?"

Ino chuckled "Okay."

Ino sat next to her father as the two of them placed their orders. They discussed the happenings of the T&I unit, while Ino told her father about her run in with Anko. Leaving out the details about her guilty conscious only asking Anko because she was worried that she had killed another kunochi.

"Oh damn." Ino muttered softly.

Inochi looked at her daughter. "What is it?" he asked following his daughter's gaze. Standing at the entrance was non other than two members of Team One along with the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha himself.

"Ino. I know that Gai is a bit eccentric, but there is not reason to react like that." Inochi scolded.

"It's not Gai." Ino said.

"Who?"

"The Hyuuga. Let's just say that we don't exactly get along too well." Ino said simply.

"He was the number one rookie last year. I heard that the reason that Team One didn't compete in the exams last year was because each of them had to battle Gai one-on—one. Looks like they won this year." Inochi said with a chuckle before turning his attention back to his noodles.

Neji had his arms crossed and sighed. Gai wanted to go to Ichiruku, and to humor him both he and TenTen agreed. He hated Ichiruki, not that he didn't like ramen, far to the contrary. He just hated the number one knuckle-headed ninja who tended to eat at the restaurant. He looked around, _looks like the idiot in the orange jumpsuit is no where to be seen. _He thought to himself as he gazed around the building. Then his eyes landed short and poorly cut blond hair, before her eyes met his briefly and quickly Ino turned to speak to her father. He looked at the father and daughter, it was obvious that Ino took after her father in looks. Long hair, although Ino's was a few shades later. Blue eyes, fair skin, and of course the ability to manipulate the brains of others. He had heard rumor that Inochi was the ninja that interrogated the most difficult of ninja. Sometimes he left his enemies in such a state of trauma that they had to be institutionalized. _But those are all rumors of course. If Inochi is so powerful how is Ino so weak? I heard that her mother was a civilian that__'__s probably why_. He turned and followed his teammates, trying to forget the dream that he had yesterday night about the blonde kunochi.


	14. Day 13

The Yamanaka training ground had a rock wall that took up the entire left side of the training grounds. It was the "boarder" between the Yamanaka and the Nara properties. Ino approached the wall and looked at it with her hands on her narrow hips. It wasn't tall- at the most twelve feet, but upon closer inspection she realized that it was marked by different colored pieces of tape, indicating the "route" she needed to take to reach the top of that particular section. The tape was numbered 100-1,000 in multiples of 50, she looked and realized that the lower numbers were what appeared to be easier routes while the higher numbers were harder with the rock jutting out at strange angles."I guess I'll just start at the beginning." she muttered to herself as she walked to the route marked 100 before beginning to climb.

She thought about the words Hinata had shared with her back when they were training. Ino had revealed to her friend her troubles with the Earth jutzu despite her affinity with earth based techniques. Hinata then told Ino that she had a water affinity and the whenever she had difficulty she would swim. The thought of the giant wall at the Yamanaka Training grounds seemed like the perfect way to become one with her affinity.

The first route was simple, she climbed it almost instantly, quickly followed by routes 200, 250, and 300. However 350 began to give her some trouble, causing her to fall off the rock face multiple times before finally managing to reach the top. Route 400 she found she could not do.

She winced when she fell again, she had made it about 3 feet high before falling. Again. She stepped back and glared at the wall trying to figure out where to place her hands and feet. She crossed her arms and began calculating a plan to get up the wall. _That bastard Shikamaru would probably have at least ten different ways for me to get up this thing. He probably would have figured out all of the routes by now_ she thought to herself bitterly.

She stepped forward and tried again, pressing her body against the wall, she reached her left foot out as far as she could and reached out with her right hand, her left hand was bracing her at about waist height. She felt her fingertips just brush the tip of the rock as she fought to keep her balance and shift her weight to her left side. Her right hand gripped a pretty sturdy piece of rock and she tried to calculate different ways that she could move.

"Put your left foot where your left hand is." a voice said from below. She looked down to see Shikamaru and Chouji standing below her.

"I got it." she said curtly.

"You're going to fall." Shikamaru pointed out. As if predicting the future, Ino's left foot slipped and she had to quickly shift her weight to keep from falling. Frantically she looked around for some other route, any route other then the one that Shikamaru had pointed out. But she didn't see anything. She groaned and did the move that way that Shikamaru had told her to. She made the move but fell again when she couldn't find the hand-hold above. Shikamaru steadied her when she fell.

"Damn it, Shika! I don't need your help." she groaned slapping his helping hands away from her.

"Looks like you do. Come on, Asuma wants us to come to the training grounds."

Ino sighed, realizing that she didn't want to leave the wall. This was a great work out and an even better way to try to figure out puzzles. She patted the wall before following her teammates out of the training ground.

She stood behind the counter of the Yamanaka flower shop and listened to Sakura droll on and on about how both Naruto and Sasuke were now missing. "They are just training." Ino pointed out.

"Yeah. But everyone else is training with their teammates, why am I not included?" she demanded.

Ino looked at her friend and shook her head "I don't know. Maybe because they need something different?" she tried.

Sakura sighed. "Kakashi-sensai has taken Sasuke somewhere and Naruto works with some perv with white hair. I am just stuck doing nothing but routines and seeing Lee at the hospital."

Ino looked at her friend sympathetically. She didn't know what to say. Ino had never been good a comforting people. "How is Lee?" she asked changing the topic.

"He is the same as always. If the idiot would stop working out he would heal a lot faster." Sakura said with a sigh.

Ino smiled slightly despite the seriousness of the situation. Rock Lee was a hell of a guy.

Sakura opened her mouth to talk to the blonde before her but was cut off when the bells above the doorway chimed. The two girls looked up and saw Neji Hyuuga enter the shop.

"Damn." Ino muttered before pasting on a smile and moving from behind the counter. "Welcome, Hyuuga-sama. What can I assist you with?" she inquired.

"I need white lilies." the Hyuuga boy stated simply.

Ino exchanged a quick glance with Sakura before she grabbed a piece of brown paper and began to collect the flowers from their buckets. She worked quickly and silently, wanting the Hyuuga boy out of her father's shop as quickly as possible. _If any other guy who looked like that came in I would be flirting my ass off _she thought to herself as she rolled the paper around the flowers.

Neji watched through white eyes as the Yamanaka girl's long slender fingers collected flower after flower and placed them gently in the paper. She didn't look as flawless as she usually did, there were scrapes and bruises on her body, what looked like road rash all along her left leg and thigh. He noticed that her purple painted fingernails were torn and that instead of her usual purple outfit she was instead dressed in a pair of athletic shorts and a tanktop. She turned to walk towards him and paused only to move the strap back up onto her shoulder. He could feel the dislike radiating off of her thin body, and the daggers she was glaring at him through those sapphire blue eyes.

She rang him up and told him the price. Neji glared at the girl with how rude she was being. Didn't she know how to keep everything else not work related away from work? Although she did manage to greet him as Hyuuga-sama, something that he was taken aback by.

Neji handed her the money and after receiving the correct change turned and walked out of the store without another glance.

"Damn." Sakura said when the door swung shut.

Ino sighed and rested her head on the counter. "I hate him." she muttered into her arms.

Sakura chuckled. "I never would have guessed. Is this about him turning you down when you were in the forest?" she asked.

Ino glanced up at Sakura with a _You have got to be kidding me_ type of look before resting her head back down on the counter. "No. Let's just say that he and I do not exactly see eye to eye with a lot of things." she explained.

Sakura's emerald gaze fell onto Ino. It was true that Ino was brash and could be a straight up bitch. But she had a good heart beneath all that tough girl attitude. Sakura knew that towards the beginning of their match that Ino had been holding back. Sure she was still pissed that Ino had beaten her, but she also knew deep down that the better kunochi had won. She also knew that it was due to the match that the two of them managed to rekindle their friendship and move on.

"So Pig, dinner?" Sakura asked as she glanced at the clock and saw that it was time for Ino to close the shop.

"It's 6:00 already?" Ino asked.

"Yep." Sakura replied simply.

"I wish I could, but I promised Yoshino Nara that I would come over for dinner." Ino explained.

Sakura rolled her eyes and flipped her cherry blossom hair. "Because you and Shikamaru are on such good terms." she teased.

Ino chuckled. "Yeah… But Yoshino has done a lot for my dad and me since mom died. I really do think of her as another mom. If she wants me to come over I have no right to say no." Ino explained as she untied the apron from around her waist and wandered to the back to hang it up.

"Alright, well I will see you around, Pig." Sakura yelled into the back.

"See you, Forehead! Will you flip the sign to closed for me on your way out?" Ino asked.

Her response was the sound of bells jingling, signaling that Sakura had left the flowershop. Ino smiled to herself before doing an inventory check.

She locked the door to the flower shop behind her, if she hadn't been looking at her reflection in the mirror she would have missed the sillohette of her attacker. Ino swung around and blocked the assailant's attack with her own kunai before shoving them away. She quickly shifted to the side, effectively giving herself an escape route before facing her attacker.

"Well, looks like the little flower girl is learning a thing or two." Dosu said mockingly.

"What do you want?" Ino growled.

"That little trick you pulled on me the other day…that wasn't too nice." Dosu said simply as he twiddled with his kunai.

"What are you talking about?" Ino asked feigning innocence.

"You really think that I would kill my own teammate?" Dosu asked.

"It certainly appeared that you would in the forest of death." Ino spat back.

Dosu tapped his kunai to his chin in thought before looking at Ino. "Killing Kin after she lost to your teammate would be a waste of time."

_Damn this guy, what the hell? _Ino mentally fumed.

"Tell me Yamanaka, why is it that the two of us are paired? I am obviously stronger than you. You are nothing but a waste of my time, a waste of chakara that I need to defeat Sasuke." Dosu stated.

"Just the luck of the draw I guess. If you think I am so easy to defeat, then why bother using chakara. Just fight me like a man." Ino mocked.

"If you insist." Dosu replied before lunging towards her.

Ino blocked his attack and quickly countered with one of her own. He blocked it easily and was immediately back on the offensive. Ino ducked beneath a punch and swung her leg out, hoping to trip Dosu. He jumped up into the air, avoiding her attack before attempting to kick her. She rolled out of the way and quickly climbed to her feet. She reached for where her weapons pouch would be, but froze when she felt her bare thigh. _Shit. I left my weapons pouch at home. The only reason I had this one was because I forgot it last night at the shop. _

_ "_Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You forgot your weapons. What kind of kunochi are you?" Dosu asked drawing a handful of kunai.

Ino gulped. And Dosu threw three kunai at her.

Ino knew this move, this was the same move that Sakura used on her. Ino stepped to the side, caught one of the kunai and with one swift motion, threw it back at Dosu. That caught him by surprise, he still managed to dodge but not gracefully, giving Ino enough time to leap onto the rooftop of the flower shop.

Luck was on her side because two other Konoha nin were also traveling along the rooftops. Ino knew that Dosu didn't want to draw attention to the fact that he wanted to kill her. He remained on the ground and glared at her. "This isn't over, Yamanaka." he said simply.

Ino quickly started running along the rooftops desperate to get away from the man who was trying to kill her. She didn't stop until she reached the sanctuary of the Nara Compound. She knocked frantically on the door, terrified that Dosu was lurking in the shadows, despite the fact that she masked her chakara and couldn't feel him behind her. Asuma said that she was most likely a sensory type kunochi because during their games of hide and seek, Ino could always find both her teammates and Jounin teacher the fastest.

The door opened and Ino quickly shoved in past Shikamaru. She was breathing hard and covered in sweat. She didn't use her chakara, instead was running on pure adrenaline. She slammed the door behind her and leaned heavily against the sturdy wooden frame.

"Ino? What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing. Just freaked myself out." Ino replied.

"You are covered in sweat and you don't just 'freak yourself out.'" Shikamaru pointed out simply.

Ino sighed. "I was running late and wanted to see what I could do without my chakara. I took the long way along the rooftops here from the flower shop." Ino explained.

Shiakmaru looked at her skeptically and was about to retort but was interrupted by Yoshino.

"Ino it's good to see you sweetie." the woman said with a gentle smile on her face.

Ino smiled back. "It's good to be here."


End file.
